A nationwide campaign kicked off in Ghana to stop its dwindling forest reserves. The Ghana reforestation drive has led to around 5M trees being planted across the nation in one day called Green Ghana Day. The government was totally behind this initiative and distributed free seedlings to its citizens. People from every walk of life including politicians, celebrities, community leaders, and schoolchildren joined the ‘Green Ghana’ campaign.
Ghana has suffered from disturbing rates of deforestation as expanding farmlands, logging, and mining have all contributed to the felling of trees across the nation, according to environmentalists. The forest cover has depleted alarmingly to just a fifth since the 1990s, Forestry Commission figures reveal.
President Kicks Of Ghana Reforestation Drive WIth Green Ghana Day
President Akufo-Addo started the drive by planting a Lignum vitae seedling in Jubilee House, the seat of the Presidency. It is one of the strongest hardwoods in the world. In an inaugural speech on Green Ghana Day, he said that it was imperative to act immediately. He also pledged to act against illegal mining.
Heads of Religious and philanthropic institutions were present along with the chiefs of several ethnic groups.
Over 7M seedlings were handed out to parks, businesses, and schools across the nation days to kick start the Ghana reforestation drive. The nation is one of the tropical nations with the highest loss of their once lush rainforests. Ghana’s present forest cover is a mere 1.6 million hectares (around 4 million acres). That is way down from the 8.2 million hectares (20 million acres) even in the 1990s. The United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization figures reveal that Ghana has the greatest percentage of rainforest loss among tropical countries.
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There had been no attempts till now to stop the unregulated gold mining, and the uncontrolled felling of trees to make way for farmlands. The destruction of the green cover has wrecked the country’s ecosystem and recovering will require more than just the single Green Ghana Day of Ghana’s reforestation drive.
Director of the operation at the Forest Commission, Hugh Brown has promised that the Ghana reforestation drive on Green Ghana Day was just the beginning and the government was committed to sustaining it at least for the next 5 years. Neighboring Ivory Coast also launched a ‘tree day’ last year to counter deforestation caused by cocoa cultivation.
