Ghanaians on Friday took another giant step towards restoring the country’s degraded landscape by planting 10 million trees in an exercise labelled Green Ghana Day.
The tree planting exercise which was carried out across the country received patronage from high profile personalities, the diplomatic community, organisations, companies, religious bodies, state and non-state institutions.
The third in three years, Friday’s event brings to 43 million the number of trees that have been planted since the initiative was first held on June 11, 2021, with a post-planting monitoring survey putting the average tree survival rate at 71 per cent or 23 million trees planted during the previous two editions.
In the first edition in 2021, seven million trees were planted, while 26 million trees were planted in 2022.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo led the country in the tree-planting exercise at the University of Ghana in the Greater Accra Region, where he was joined by the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources (MLNR), Samuel Abu Jinapor, the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, and other personalities who were hosted by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo.
The President planted a tree to symbolically start the exercise just after 11 a.m.
He planted Velvet Tamarind, known locally as ‘yooyi” by the Gas, atsitoe by the Ees and ‘Asamba’ by Fantes, at the event which was on the theme “Mobilising for a Greener Future.”
The legislative arm of government also actively participated in the national exercise, with the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, leading legislators and staff of the Parliamentary Service to plant trees at the premises of the House.
At the Nationalism Park in Accra, the Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Development, led the charge in planting trees, while his counterpart from the Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs Ministry organised a similar event at the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs at Dodowa.
Other state agencies and institutions, including the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), the Chief of Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Seth Amoama, and the Diplomatic community all joined at separate events to plant trees to mark the day.
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, joined the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Benito Owusu Bio, and the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, in Kumasi, while the Omanhene of the New Juaben Traditional Area, Daasebre Kwaku Boateng III, also joined the Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Kwame Acheampong, to plant trees in Koforidua.
The President of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs, Pe Ditundini Adiali Ayagitam II, also joined the Upper East Regional Minster, Stephen Yakubu, and other dignitaries to plant trees at Bolgatanga.
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