Okyenhene Leads Tree Planting Exercise- Atewa forest will be protected against illegal felling of trees

The Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin on Friday led officials of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),the Forestry Commission as well as the Okyeman Environment Foundation (OEF) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the Office of the Presidency to plant 150,000 tree seedlings in Atewa Forest at Kyebi in the Eastern Region.

The exercise according to him, formed part of the Government’s Green Ghana initiative to further preserve the Atewa forest reserve vegetation cover.

The Okyenhene said planting of trees was very necessary since that would go a long way to protect the environment, stressing that it was important for children especially school children to be thought how to plant trees.

Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin expressed worry about the manner in which individuals were destroying the forest for their selfish interests.

He said the world is united ecologically and therefore when “we destroy the ecological system we destroy ourselves’’, the Okyenhene stated.

According to the Okyenhene, it was very selfish to cut down trees or destroy any part of the ecological system, adding that it was rather proper as a human beings to take good care of the trees for generation yet unborn to enjoy.

The Okyenhene, who is also an Environmentalist further called on his people and the entire populace to support the government’s Green Ghana Day initiative which seeks to plant 20million trees this year.

“All Ghanaians must get themselves involved in the tree seedlings, planting and take care of them to grow. No one is going to get rich doing this but it is a service that will enhance our living and our environment so plant a tree today and watch it grow” Okyenhene noted.

Osagyefuo said he was delighted that the government had seen the need to plant trees as they were regulators of temperatures everywhere around the world which keeps every human being alive.

He also encouraged Ghanaians to lead the charge in the region and support the initiative saying “you are not doing this for the President or me but yourselves and your generation. Also, you are not only planting trees, you are planting your future”.

The Okyenhene called for all and sundry to take the responsibility to educate the young generation especially the children on how to plant trees to replace those the had been cut-down.

For her part, the Resident Representative in Ghana of the UNDP, Dr Angela Lusigi expressed her satisfaction of the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Abu Jinapor and the Forestry Commission as well as the traditional authorities for making the Green Ghana initiative a wonderful one.

She called on the people of Sagyimase where the Atewa forest entrance begins and it’s environs including farmers, school children, small and large businesses, non-state actors and development partners to develop interest of planting trees.

“We know that if we work together, we can restore our degraded land and expand forest-based livelihoods faster. Reports suggest that there is a success rate of 85% from last year’s events. This shows that we can truly achieve a lot more this year through partnership. We are so pleased to be partnering with the Okyeman Foundation, civil society organisations and the communities represented here not only to restore forest cover but also to improve social outcomes and expand local livelihood opportunities”, Dr Lusigi stated.

As part of UN family in Ghana Dr Lusigi indicated the UNDP was committed to supporting national and local efforts to address the root cause of multidimensional poverty and natural resource degradation in the country.

The Kyebi District Manager of the Forestry Commission, Emmanuel Antwi who was excited about the exercise indicated that species such as mahogany, Ofram, emire and cassia had been planted in the Atewa Forest Reserve.

He thanked Okyenhene’s efforts and participation while highlighting his role in last year’s edition of the Green Ghana campaign saying “with your leadership and support, last year during Green Ghana, the Eastern Region exceeded its target of 500,000 thousand trees as we planted 700, 000 trees and we’re grateful”.

Mr Antwi lauded the Okyenhene for taking charge in Ghana’s effort to plant 20 million trees in the country, through the Okyeman Environment Foundation.

At a glance:

The Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin on Friday led officials of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Forestry Commission as well as the Okyeman Environment Foundation (OEF) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the Office of the Presidency to plant 150,000 tree seedlings in Atewa Forest at Kyebi in the Eastern Region.

Source :Tweneboah Koduah /Kessben TV Eastern Region.