Today is Green Ghana Day: President, Otumfuo to plant commemorative trees

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II will lead key ceremonies at the 2023 Green Ghana Day today, Friday June 9, 2023.

In Accra, the national ceremony will be held at the University of Ghana. It will be climaxed with President Akufo-Addo, leading the nation to plant at least 10,000,000 tree seedlings across the country.

Reforestation
The exercise is part of an aggressive afforestation and reforestation agenda to restore degraded forest landscapes and to contribute to global efforts to fight climate change.

The Green Ghana project is meant to encourage Ghanaians to plant more trees to protect and preserve the country’s forests and environment.

This year’s event is on the theme, “Our Forest, Our Health”. The Green Ghana Day was first launched by the government’ in 2021, under the auspices of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.

The maiden edition targeted planting five million trees, but over seven million trees were planted. Last year, over twenty-six million trees were planted, exceeding the target of twenty million trees.

Kumasi
In Kumasi, Otumfuo Osei Tutu will plant a commemorative tree to mark the day. The King has been consistent n his participation in the Green Ghana Day activities. On May 17, he launched this year’s event in Kumasi Osei Tutu II, urging institutions to work at arresting the continuous degradation of the environment.

Illegal mining
Otumfuo Osei Tutu spoke against illegal mining (galamsey) and pledged to deal with his chiefs who allow the menace to continue in their traditional areas without taking any action. “If you sit there and say that you don’t know what is happening, then you are not fit to be a chief,” the Asantehene stated.

Survival
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor has revealed that the Ministry’s field Assessment Report indicates an average survival rate of 72 per cent survival rate of 20 million trees in 2022 as compared to 81 per cent of 5 million in 2021.

“While adequate measures were put in place to ensure the survival of all trees planted, a number of external factors account for the survival rate, including rainfall patterns, wildfires and soil fertility. Nonetheless, the survival rate shows that we still have some twenty-three million trees to nurture,” he stated.