Akufo-Addo launches second edition of Green Ghana Project

Ghana is embarking on an ambitious afforestation drive to plant some 20 million trees this year as part of wider efforts to restore lost forest cover and to contribute to the global climate change fight.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who announced this in Accra on Tuesday when he launched the second edition of the Green Ghana Project, said the government was stepping up efforts to reduce deforestation and restore degraded landscape across the country to “guarantee our survival.”

He said the forest was a major resource required for the socio-economic development of the country and “we must make concerted efforts to protect our forest for the benefit of current and future generations.”

The President last year launched the Green Ghana Project as an aggressive response to the climate change emergency, and to restore the degraded landscape occasioned by illegal mining.

Some seven million trees were planted nationwide during the exercise, which was led by the president, who planted a Moringa tree at the Jubilee House in commemoration of the 2021 Green Ghana Day on June 11.

This year, the day is to be observed on Friday, June 10.

Half of this year’s target of 20 million trees seedlings will be planted within degraded forest reserves across the country.

Tree seedlings to be planted include native timber species, shade trees, multipurpose leguminous, ornamental and fruit trees.

President Akufo-Addo noted that apart from their economic benefits, the forest was necessary for the survival of the human race and the planet, especially as the world combatted the climate crisis.

He regretted the rampant exploitation of forest reserves across the world, and called for rigorous coordinated efforts to protect the forest for posterity.

President Akufo-Addo emphasised that Article 41(k) of the country’s Constitution imposed a duty on every citizen to protect and safeguard the environment and urged Ghanaians to consider the tree planting exercise as one of the ways of fulfilling that constitutional obligation.

“This noble venture ought to be funded and executed through our collective efforts, and, as much as possible, without burdening the public treasury. We can do it and I call on all Ghanaians and residents of Ghana to contribute in diverse ways in this Godly endeavour,” he said.

The president observed that “with just eight years to achieve the goals we set for ourselves in the Sustainable Development Goals, climate change continues to derail our efforts, by impacting the fundamentals required to achieve the Goals.”

“No poverty, Zero Hunger, Good health, Gender equality, Clean water, Affordable and clean energy, Reduced inequalities, Responsible consumption and production, Life on land, and Life below water, are all being negatively impacted by climate change,” he stated.

“A greener future is necessary for the survival of our planet, and we must do all we can to bequeath to future generations, a greener, better planet,” he said, and appealed to all Ghanaians and foreign residents to commit to the restoration of the nation’s ecosystem by planting at least a tree on Friday, June 10, 2022.