AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) Ghana, Obuasi Mine, has announced its commitment to planting 1,000 trees in schools and communities within its operational areas to protect the environment and while contribute to efforts to combat climate change.
The initiative formed part of the company’s corporate social responsibility and its contribution to the annual Green Ghana Day introduced by the government to promote tree planting among the citizenry.
Mr Emmanuel Baidoo, Senior Manager, Sustainability Department of the Mine, announced this during a tree planting exercise by the company at the Obuasi Methodist Primary School, to commemorate this year’s Green Ghana Day.
The day which was introduced last year by the government seeks to promote collective action towards restoration of degraded landscape in the country and inculcate in youth the value of planting and nurturing trees.
The theme for this year’s edition was “Mobilising for a Greener Future.”
He said the company would undertake the exercise in collaboration with AGA Malaria Control and other stakeholders in the communities within the company’s operational area.
“This year, we are aiming at even planting 2000 trees. We would ensure that the trees we have planted are well nurtured which will end up being developed to contribute to the biodiversity that we all anticipate,” he assured.
Mr Baidoo also spoke about the company’s elaborate plans to reclaim lands that had been affected by the mining activities of the company as part of its commitment to restoring degraded lands.
“As a mine, we have a comprehensive Environment Management Plan part of which is to ensure that we implement a robust reclamation programme to restore the land we have disturbed to its original state,” he emphasised.
He lauded the government for the Green Ghana initiative, saying that it aligned with the company’s environmental policy.
As part of the company’s socio-economic development interventions, the Obuasi Mine is currently implementing the Climate Resilient Oil Palm Project (CROPP).
The project is targeting 2000 hectares of land in its first phase of five years to plant agroforestry trees.
The objective of the CROPP Project, according to Mr. Baidoo, was to ensure that all disturbed lands due to the Mine’s activities were reclaimed and used for economic purposes by planting oil palms and other cash crops on them.
