The Deputy Minister for Lands and Forestry, Benito Owusu Bio, has commended the rank and file of the Forestry Commission for successfully executing all major policies, strategies and programs for the forestry sector, particularly the Second Edition of the government’s flagship project – the Green Ghana Day Project.
According to him, efforts have been made by the Forestry Commission over the years to make the two editions of the Green Ghana Project a success.
Speaking on behalf of the Sector Minister, Mr Bio admonished them to sustain the enthusiasm generated among various stakeholders towards the Green Ghana agenda to ensure that the country restores more degraded forest landscapes to make Ghana a Greener place and therefore called for more work in the area of maintenance of the trees planted.
“During the maiden edition of the project in 2021, the Forestry Commission led the nation to plant over seven million tree seedlings of various species across the country from an initial target of five million trees. This year, the target was raised to twenty Million trees and through your hard-work and dedicated effort, we were able to plant over Twenty-Six Million tree seedlings”
Benito Owusu Bio
In his speech, Mr Bio noted that as the year draws to a close, it is appropriate as a corporate institution to reflect over the immediate past year’s achievements and take stock of what “we planned to accomplish this year and evaluate our own performances based on our Key Performance Indicators” (KPIs). This he stated, will enable the Commission to plan effectively for subsequent years ahead.
Commission urged to fight wildfires as the dry season beckons
The deputy lands minister explained that the occasion presents an opportunity to honor prominent achievements of hard-working staff of the Commission at all levels as source of motivation and inspiration for the staff. With this, he commended the Chief Executive for his initiative of the “CEOs End of Year Briefing and Staff Recognition Award Ceremony” and hoped for the event to be sustained annually.
Mr Bio highlighted that as the dry season beckons, the Commission needs to make extra efforts to fight wildfires from destroying these trees, especially in the fragile savanna ecological zone and requested the CEO to channel more resources to the Savannah zones.
He equally lauded the wildlife division of the Forestry Commission for the efforts being made to diversify their revenue sources by promoting the ecotourism sector as he explained that ecotourism provides an effective incentive for conservation and protecting the ecosystem and biodiversity, while at the same time creating jobs and generating income to support the national economy.
The Deputy Minister informed them that the Ministry is working hard to get the Wildlife Resources Management Bill, which was approved by Cabinet this year, passed by Parliament into an ACT, which he noted will promote effective management of wildlife resources in Ghana.
Among other things, Mr Bio touched on illegal mining and illegal logging, as well as agriculture and land use activities, indicating that the Ministry is currently having discussions with the Ministry of Defense to see to the possibility of quickly recalling the Military to support the work of the Rapid Response Team to curb all issues that has to do with illegalities in the sector.
He assured the Commission of the Ministry’s commitment in supporting the work they do, adding that “we will continue to provide the needed resources and policy direction to enhance your performance”.
