The Bawku Municipal Manager of Forestry Commission, Mr Emmanuel Omane, says the Green Ghana initiative will complement the district plans to restore about 2,000 hectares of degraded lands in the Bawku enclave in the next five years.
Speaking at a stakeholders meeting at Bawku in the Upper East Region during the launch of the Green Ghana Project last Friday, he noted that the government through the Forestry Commission had initiated a 25-year strategic plan to reverse the degraded lands in Ghana.
He said the plan dubbed: “The Ghana Forest Plantation Strategy” was part of both global and national commitments to work with stakeholders to restore about 625,000 hectares of degraded lands nationwide by 2040.
Mr Omane explained that about 300 hectares of degraded lands in Bawku enclave had already been restored.
The Manager disclosed that the Bawku Forest District was given a target of 20,000 trees to be planted as part of the Green Ghana Initiative, adding that about 16,000 trees had been planted.
Mr Omane noted that the significance of greening the environment was enormous and warned persons who engaged in destroying the environment to desist from the act and instead support the restoration agenda.
The Bawku Municipal Director of the Department of Agriculture, Mr Charles Akwotiga, noted that tree planting was crucial to boosting agriculture production and improving the livelihoods of farmers.
The municipal director noted that apart from the trees having the potential of addressing climate change, farmers could also get food from the trees as well as increase their income generation avenues.
The Paramount Chief of Kusaug Traditional Area, Zugran Naba Asigri Abugrago AzorkaII, urged the Forestry Commission to prioritise the planting of economic trees such as Dawadawa and Shea, stressing the need for the Municipal and District Assemblies to enact by-laws to punish people who destroy the environment.
The Green Ghana seeks to mobilise all major stakeholders to undertake a massive national tree planting exercise annually and it is intended to support national efforts, aimed at attaining the Sustainable Developmental Goals and other global and national commitments on restoration of degraded landscape.
FROM SAMUEL AKAPULE, BAWKU
