Winneba, June 15, GNA - Mr Ernest Nkansah, Winneba District Manager of the Forest Services Division, has said that trees played vital role in huma= n survival and must therefore be protected.

Mr Nkansah was addressing a large crowd in Winneba to mark the World Environmental Day celebration organised by the Effutu Municipal Assembly. Trees play a vital role in the water cycle by gradually absorbing moisture from the soil and releasing it into the atmosphere through transpiration which later condenses and falls as rain, he explained. According to him, trees extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and provide oxygen which is key to survival adding that trees also reduced the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere thereby reducing global warming. Mr Nkansah said the main effects of global warming were flooding, extreme temperature and rise in sea level which had economic implications o= n the country and the world at large.

He said despite these values, human activities had caused destruction to several hectares of forests in the country including illegal logging. Mr Nkansah said the year 2011 was therefore declared the international Year of Forests by the United Nations to raise awareness and ensure sustainable forest management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests to benefit current and future generations. He therefore stressed the need to educate the people to see how the threats affected their daily lives, adding that 93we must champion the educational drive to save the forest from destruction.