The Ghana Garden and Flower Movement has called on Ghanaians to cultivate more gardens to protect the environment and health.
The movement is an initiative of the Strategic Communications Africa Limited (Stratcomm Africa), a marketing communication agency and was instituted in 2013.
The call was to mark the World Health Day celebrated yesterday under the theme “Our planet our health,” to help channel global attention on urgent actions needed to keep humans and the planet healthy and to foster a movement that encouraged societies to prioritise our well-being.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Ghana Garden and Flower Movement and copied to the Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday.
According to the statement, the World Health Day’s theme was in alignment with the goal of the movement to promote a “greener, cleaner, healthier, wealthier and a more beautiful Ghana.”
The statement noted that more than13 million deaths around the world each year were due to avoidable environmental causes, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“This includes the climate crisis which is the single biggest health threat facing humanity. The climate crisis is therefore also a health crisis,” it added.
The movement said that was one of the reasons it had for the past ten years promoted activities such as the Ghana Garden and Flower Show that encouraged individuals and communities to take responsibility of the environment.
As such, it entreated for concerted effort from the government, communities, media, civil society organisations and individuals to address climate issues to help save “our earth and our health.”
“The Movement is also calling out to businesses and industries to adopt eco-friendly approaches to their operations to help protect the environment and the health and wellbeing of workers and the society generally.”
Furthermore, the movement encouraged Ghanaians to prioritise and safeguard their health and that of others keeping their environs clean and planting a garden, no matter how small.
The Ghana Garden and Flower Movement seeks to contribute to the realisation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) through creating awareness among Ghanaians about the commercial, aesthetic, psychological and health benefits of horticulture and floriculture.
BY TIMES REPORTER
