The European Union Resilience Against Climate Change (EU-REACH) project has provided various species of tree seedlings to the Samanbo D/A Basic School to mark the Green Ghana Day at Samanbo in the Wa West District.
In commemoration of the initiative, the REACH-Project provided 50 seedlings, comprising of acacia, mango, cashew, Mahogany and citrus to the “Nature Club” members of the school for planting to help improve the tree population in the community.
As part of its afforestation activities, the project had planted more than 28,000 seedlings in 18 communities since its inception in 2019.
Through the guidance and support of the school and coaches of the Club, members of the Nature Club would become advocates against activities that impacted the environment destructively and promote tree planting for a better tomorrow.
The REACH Project, which is providing support for afforestation activities in the communities to help reduce the effects of climate change, lauded Green Ghana Day as a novelty geared towards protecting the environment hence its support to complement government’s efforts.
Mr Simon Kunyangna, the Deputy Project Manager of EU-REACH, who distributed the seedlings to the school, urged Ghanaians to care about the sustainability of trees and the environment.
“We must appreciate the government for recognising the need for a special day such as the “Green Ghana Day” to be set aside to encourage the planting of trees across the country.
“We must all support this initiative within the communities to help achieve the objective of raising the next generation of young environmental sustainability champions to contribute to protecting the communities and the environment”, he said.
He urged the youth to take interest in protecting trees to secure their own survival in the future, saying “We will not be able to survive in a world without trees and a world without oxygen although we can live without food and water for some hours”.
Mr Kunyangna noted that the difficulties encountered in the communities with regard to tree planting by individuals was about the lackadaisical approach towards the maintenance of the seedlings after planting, which had resulted in many of them dying off due to negligence and other factors.
Owning to the lack of care by individuals to ensure that the trees planted in the communities survive and grow, the REACH had adopted the use of schools and existing groups in the communities to supply them with seedlings to plant.
By this initiative, the project had found out that it was working to perfection as it enabled the project to hold the groups accountable for the survival or otherwise of the seedlings provided them to plant.
The Deputy Project Manager of EU-REACH noted that GIZ as a development partner had considered “the Green Ghana Project” as a positive one and good for the existence and survival of the human.
He, therefore, appealed to Ghanaians to embrace it to help reduce the impact of climate change on the environment.
He said beyond the planting of the seedlings, efforts must be made to ensure that the seedlings grow through the proper care and protection against bushfires, animal grazing and drought, while taking into consideration the timing period of planting of the seedlings to enable them to take roots before the dry season.
He urged Ghanaians to use their energies towards afforestation activities to help replenish the environment and fight climate change.
The seedling planting exercise by the EU-REACH Project was to contribute to the Green Ghana Day being implemented by the government through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and their partners.
EU-REACH is part of the EU-Ghana Agricultural Programme (EUGAP), under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and implemented by Deutsche Geseilschaft for International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
It seeks to facilitate the adaptation and mitigation of climate change and its impact on rural livelihoods in the Savannah Ecosystem of Ghana.