The management, staff and students of the Bolgatanga Girls Senior High School (BOGISS) have been commended for their commitment to greening the environment.
BOGISS played host to the regional launch of the Green Ghana Day for the Upper East Region. The school was selected this year to host the launch after doing same last year.
According to data on the trees planted in the school, the trees had a survival rate of over 90 percent; a mark of commitment towards enhancing the forest cover and mitigating the effects of climate change.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign, the Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu stressed the survival of the trees to be planted during the campaign and retaining the already existing forest cover is directly linked to the survival of human beings.
“Earlier initiatives concerning the planting of trees intended to greening Ghana and also curb desertification did not only yield results because of bad implementation strategies including timing. This time around, with the results from the previous project, a very good success rate has been achieved.”
“I urge you not just to plant the tree, but endeavour to nurture the tree to blossom. And remember that this exercise is a matter of human survival, because as the saying goes, when the last tree dies, the last man dies.”
“Let me commend madam Headmistress of the Bolga Girls Senior High School who is playing host to this very important ceremony. The planning committee’s decision to once again launch the programme in the school here is an indication of your utmost commitment to this very important national assignment. We urge you to continue with the exemplary leadership you have exhibited which will serve as a model for the rest of the institutions and departments to emulate.”
Mr. Yakubu went on to suggest that considering the rising costs of LPG, deliberately planted woodlots could serve as an alternative fuel source.
“In the era of high cost of LPG, the need to plant woodlots to serve as an alternative fuel cannot be underestimated. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, this year’s green Ghana day is being marked under the theme Mobilizing for a Greener Future which is targeting twenty (20) million trees out of which Six Hundred and Fifty Thousand (650,000) have been allocated to the Upper East Region. The theme is very appropriate and resonates very well with our situation as a region,” he said.
The President of Ghana, H. E Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo launched the 2022 Edition of Green Ghana Day, at the Accra International Conference Centre. The theme for this year’s exercise is “Mobilizing for a Greener Future” and it is scheduled for June 10, 2022.
The President in his keynote address said that forests continue to be one of Ghana’s most important resources but regrettably there is a substantial decline in the country’s forest cover.
The President, therefore, called for concerted efforts to combat this menace. The Green Ghana Initiative seeks to create a collective action towards the restoration of degraded landscapes in the country, mitigate climate change and inculcate in the youth the values of planting and nurturing trees and their associated benefits, he continued.
Samuel A. Jinapor, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources in his statement, thanked the President and Ghanaians for their support for Green Ghana as the planting target of 5 million trees was exceeded by 2 million.
The Minister said that efforts at restoring Ghana’s forests in the past had not been effective and forceful, hence, the Green Ghana Project which was to drive efforts towards an aggressive afforestation programme to restore the lost forest cover of Ghana which contributes to the global efforts to fight climate change.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
