The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Jinapor, has called for action to be takens to restore the depleting forest cover of the country.
Speaking at the launch of the ‘One student, One tree’ campaign in Accra today, he intimated that the consequence of the depletion is enormous and has to be worked on.
“We have to recognize that over the years, we’ve depleted the forest cover of the country. The statistics are frightening and indeed with all that has gone on since independence up till date, the unsustainable harvesting of our forest reserves, the felling of trees and the lack of aggressive afforestation has resulted in the depletion of our forest cover of our country.
“The adverse consequence of this situation is enormous and catastrophic. And so, the time for action is now. We need to do something drastic about it. And which is why in accordance with the vision of the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his instructions, we have developed a strong strategy to revert this situation.”
Samuel Jinapor
He disclosed that, the first strategy is to slow down the activities of citizens which deplete the lands and the environment and the second strategy will be to engage in afforestation.
“I believe you are very familiar with governments effort in dealing with the illegalities in the small-scale mining industry. That contributes significantly to the depletion of the forest cover of our country.
“Whiles we are preventing the depletion or our forest cover, we also have to work to restore and to engage in aggressive afforestation. And which is why the President has come up with this concept which the Ministry of Natural Resources is implementing.”
Samuel Jinapor
All citizens must help
The Minister further called on all citizens to help bring the campaign to a success. He disclosed that the President and other dignitaries will lead the exercise on June 11, 2021.
“The responsibility in restoring the forest cover of the country is not only for government. It’s supposed to be a shared responsibility.”
Samuel Jinapor
Also speaking at the event, the Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, admonished the gathering to understand that climate change is real. He then urged the students to readily engage in the tree planting exercise.
“Our world is warming up and things are changing around the world, temperatures are also increasing. One of the things which we can do to reverse the trend is to plant trees so that our part of the world will be cooler and when Ghana is cool, it will also contribute to making the world a bit cooler.
“What we are doing here today affects the entire world. So, any tree that you plant, you are not just saving Ghana but saving the world.”
Dr. Adutwum
He lauded the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources for leading the campaign to plant more trees to help with the Green Ghana Agenda. Dr. Yaw Adutwum averred that campaign would see to the planting of about 5 million trees. He indicated if the campaign is to continue, it will see to a greener Ghana.
He further pledged that his ministry will support the project and hoped that the agenda to create a green Ghana will be achieved.
“No other person can be part of this apart from the Youth of this country. The future is for you and we are leading the efforts for you to a future that is rightly yours. So, students as you begin your adventure of planting a tree, understand that you are creating a better future for yourselves and generations yet unborn.”
Dr. Adutwum
