As the world has intensified its campaign on going green by fighting climate change, some countries have set a National Tree Planting Day to raise awareness of the effects of deforestation. After a long time waiting, Ghana has finally one, to be celebrated next June 9, 2023.
Not long ago, a youth group in Ghana known as the Green Republic, urged government to consider declaring a day in the calendar year as a National Tree Planting Day, where everyone, from the President to the common person on the street, will be encouraged to plant a tree.
Reports show that Ghana has one of the highest deforestation rates in Africa and the world (2 percent per annum); and between 1990 and 2000, the country lost an average of 135,000 hectares of forest per year.
Other media reports have said that Ghana had a 60 percent increase in deforestation of primary forest between 2017 and 2018, largely due to mining, logging, fire damage, and large-scale agriculture for crops like cocoa and other crops.
According to the convener of the youth group, Nana Yaw Osei Darkwa, declaring a National Tree Planting Day would spark a revolution among the youth to get involved in the fight against climate change and indicate government’s commitment to leading the charge.
“If we have a National Tree Planting Day where all Ghanaians, led by His Excellency the President, go out to plant trees, we would be doing ourselves a great deal of good and show that we are serious and really determined to reverse the trends and win the war against deforestation and ultimately climate change.
The devastating effects of climate change is no respecter of persons and as such, a National Tree Planting Day was critical to elevating the discourse and sensitisation of Ghanaians on the need to reforest our nation by planting trees as potent weapons against the climate crisis,” he said.
Fortunately, Ghana has been celebrating its National Tree Planting Day since 2021 with great sucess. The 2022 edition’s goal was to plant 20 million trees during the year, but over 26 million trees were planted, overexceeding expectations.
It’s also been reported that “over eighty-one percent of the trees planted in 2021 have survived while seventy-two percent (72%) of the those planted last year have survived”.
Green Views, as our name implies, is committed to going green and supporting any initiative that will fight climate change. Our tenants will be happy to participate in a such a day if it is declared.