The aggressive afforestation and restoration programme embarked upon by the President Akufo-Addo administration between 2017 and 2021 to restore Ghana’s lost forest cover has led to the cultivation of 477,485.5 hectares of forest.
Between 2017 and the third quarter of 2021, a total of 67,376,384 seedlings, were procured by the Forestry Commission for planting within degraded forests under two major government programmes namely Modified Taungya System and the Youth in Afforestation/Reforestation Programme.
This effort, under the Ghana Forest Plantation Strategy, has been carried out through various programmes undertaken by the government, the private sector and Civil Society Organizations.
The Forestry Commission also procured 4,897,247 seedlings, out of the 7,193,424 seedlings distributed for planting during the maiden edition of the Green Ghana Day on June 11, 2021.
Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Samuel Abu Jinapor, who disclosed this during question time in Parliament disclosed the Ministry is committed to planting at least 20 million trees during the 2022 Green Ghana Day slated for June 20.
He disclosed that exploitation of Ghana’s forest cover has been very unsustainable leading to gradual loss of forests that has speed up the effect of climate change.
According to him, from 1900 till date Ghana has lost over 8 million hectares of forest cover and yet efforts at restoring the forest over the years have not been aggressive enough.
He said, “Between 1963 and 1987, for instance, only 19,300 ha) of forest was cultivated. And, from 2002 to 2016, an area of one hundred and thirty-eight thousand hectares (138,000 ha) of forest was cultivated, making a total of 157,300 ha of forest cultivated between 1963 and 2016, a whopping period of 53 years.”
“Mr. Speaker, since 2017, the Government of President of Akufo-Addo, has committed to an aggressive afforestation and reforestation programme, to restore our lost forest cover. As a result, between 2017 and the end of the third quarter of 2021, a total of 477,485.5ha of forest have been cultivated, under the Ghana Forest Plantation Strategy, through various programmes undertaken by Government, the private sector and Civil Society Organisations.”
He disclosed that on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, President Akufo-Addo launched the 2022 edition of the Green Ghana Day with a commitment to plant at least 20 million trees including planting on degraded forest lands, both on and off reserves.
Source: Mypublisher24.com