By: Mabel Adorkor Annang
The 1st Phase of a pilot project tagged “Weija-Gbawe Municipality goes green” has been launched in Accra, to help mitigate climate change issues in Ghana.
It is expected that 1,100 canopy trees would be planted in 11 schools in the Municipality to provide solutions to climate-related problems.
The goal of planting 5 million trees set by the Government of Ghana has been described as quite an ambitious task but a necessary one, which requires concerted effort by all citizens.
Since the Green Ghana initiative was introduced by the Government, Corporate organizations, agencies, students and individuals have embarked on restoring Ghana’s forest cover, repairing degraded landscapes, and protecting water bodies by planting thousands of plant seedlings across the country.
Now, the disaster resilience Network, DRN, in collaboration with the Weija-Gbawe Municipal Assembly, Ministry of Lands and resources, Forestry Commission, NADMO and the Ghana Education is embarking on the Weija-Gbawe goes green initiative.
This is aimed at supporting 11 selected schools in the Weija-Municipal Assembly with 1,100 Canopy Trees 11 to provide a greener, healthier, and more beautiful climate resilient schools and communities.
According to the Municipal Director of Education, Weija-Gbawe, Mr. Charles Odoom, the initiative would contribute to national efforts aimed at attaining the SDGs 13.
Mr. Odoom said “the tree planting initiative would help to resolve future depletion of the Ozone layer.”
He said when properly nurtured the trees would help to deal with the perennial flooding situation in the area which is caused by the slightest rainfall.
The Project Coordinator of Disaster Resilience Network, DRN Ghana, and Clarkson Kwabena Yeboah tasked the students to be environmental stewards by maintaining the plant seedlings to grow and addressing climate change issues.
Mr. Kwabena Yeboah urged the school and students to be responsive to the project.
“Protect all the trees we have planted in the school as your life depends on it. Maintain it, water it, nurture it, and be proud to watch it grow. Remember we cannot live without trees’’, he noted.
At the Oblogo Cluster Schools at the Weija-Gbawe Municipal Assembly, some canopy trees were planted to kick-start the project, which would help to avert the perennial flood, reduce greenhouse gasses and improve the beautification of schools in the Municipality. The tree species planted were Moutalis, Cassia, Blighia and Rain tree.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Ghana is one of the tropical countries with the highest percentage of rainforest loss in the world.
Ghana’s current forest cover stands at 1.6 million hectares (about 4 million acres), down from 8.2 million hectares (20 million acres) in 1900.
