Without even providing the statistics, no one would doubt it that Ghana is losing its precious forest cover due to such factors as illegal logging, particularly by chainsaw operators; illegal mining (galamsey) in forests; expansion of settlements and related infrastructure like roads.
The statistics would tell you that the rate at which the country is losing its forest cover is alarming.
It is on record that 24.3 per cent of Ghana’s land, about 5,517,000 hectares, was forested.
As usual, there was some ordered logging, which was necessary, especially for timber to be used locally and for export.
However, the trend changed due to illegal logging and at alarming rate.
Can you imagine, for example, that between 1990 and 2000, Ghana lost an average of 135,400 hectares of forest per year?
That was an average annual deforestation rate of 1.82 per cent, which increased to 1.89 per cent per annum between 2000 and 2005.
Thus, within the period 1990 to 2005, Ghana lost 25.9 per cent of its forest cover, equivalent to 1,931,000 hectares.
The situation is worse today, so it has become necessary to adopt aggressive and innovative ways to regain the country’s lost forest cover because of the importance of forests for the survival of the country.
This is why we commend the Akufo-Addo administration for its efforts to do so, including the introduction in June 2021 of a National Tree Planting Campaign under its Green Ghana Project.
The project is said to be an aggressive afforestation and reforestation agenda to restore degraded forest landscapes in the country and to contribute to global efforts to fight climate change.
Friday was 2023 Green Ghana Day and a ceremony was held at the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, where President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo spoke and also symbolically led the entire nation to plant at least 10 million (10,000,000) tree seedlings across the country.
The theme for this year’s Green Ghana Day was ‘Our Forests, Our Health’, which captures the importance of forests to the survival of the people.
This includes the forests being the source of food; protecting water sources; emitting oxygen and absorbing carbon emissions; and helping in combating some of the negative effects of climate change.
We think due to the importance of forests to the country, the appeal made by President Akufo-Addo to Ghanaians to take up active roles in preserving the country’s forest cover to promote healthy and sustainable environment must be adhered to with all seriousness.
His assertion that recent threats to Ghana’s forests, including illegal mining, wildfires and deforestation, required the conscious efforts of all the citizenry to deal with and protect what is left and plant and nurture new trees is something not beyond the people.
All the people have to do is to support all initiatives taken by the government to regain lost forests such as the Green Ghana Project and the fight against galamsey’, as well as communities collaborating with security personnel to check illegal logging.
We recall that Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood constituted 14 special courts to deal with mining-related offences.
We think it is about time the state increased the number and strengthened them to look at other cases related to its environment such as illegal mining.
