Over 1,000 trees have been planted in the Atiwa Forest in Segyimase, Abuakwa South Municipality, to replace those that have been destroyed due to unlawful land clearing for farming and other human activities.
Enrichment planting, or the replacement of lost trees with new tree species, would help strengthen the forest's integrity and encourage wildlife like monkeys back into the Segyimase forest reserve.
During the second edition of the Green Ghana Day initiative, the Kyebi District Ghana Forestry Commission, in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Okyeman Environment Foundation, planted the trees.
According to Mr. Emmanuel Antwi, Manager of the Kyebi District Forestry Commission, a portion of the 150,000 trees planted last year will be planted this year.
The district's share would be planted in the Segyimase forest reserve.
"We're planting trees in the forest reserves so that if the trees planted on people's farms, school grounds, and other locations are damaged as a result of the expedition, we'll have recompense in the forest," he stated.
Mr Antwi stated that tree seedlings, which were freely provided to district people, would be monitored to ensure that all of the trees were planted and growing healthily.
He stated that the prospecting permission granted to the Ghana Integrated Aluminum Development Corporation (GIADEC) to investigate the possibilities of finding bauxite reserves in the Atewa forest has expired and has not been renewed since May of last year.
"I'm in charge of my woodland reserve." "We're now planting more tree species including Mahogany, Ofram, Emire, and Cassia to improve the forest's integrity," he said.
Despite the government's aspirations to extract bauxite in the Atewa Forest, Dr Eugene Owusu, Special Advisor to the President of Ghana on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), stated the process must be carried out without harming the forest.
"It can't be done at the expense of destroying our forest." "We have no prospect of attaining the SDGs if we don't succeed in saving our planet," he said.
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