Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has promised to update Ghanaians on the state of the country’s forest reserves, including the Achimota Forests on May 2.
Speaking to the media at the National Youth Conference on natural resources and environmental governance, Mr. Jinapor advised that, government and stakeholders need to remain focused despite the setbacks that may come and avoid apportioning blame in order to succeed in the fight against illegal mining and other environmental malpractices.
“On May 2, I am leading the Forestry Commission to brief the country on the state of forest reserves in Ghana and give a full update on the state of our forest reserves.”
“Some of the measures that we are putting into place will have to continue, there will be setbacks but the most important in this matter as history has taught us, is for us to be focused,” Mr. Jinapor added.
He further encouraged the youth to show interest in environmental governance.
Members of the Plantation Developers and Seedlings Contractors Association are threatening legal action against the government for owing them an amount of GH¢28 million for seedlings they supplied in 2021 and 2022 during the national tree planting exercise.
Despite these demands and threats, the 2023 Green Ghana Project has budgeted GH¢2.5 million for this year’s planting exercise which its chairman, Benito Owusu-Bio said is woefully inadequate.
According to Benito Owusu-Bio, the government will require the private sector’s help to meet the aim of planting 10 million trees.
Benito Owusu-Bio, speaking to Citi News after the launch of the 2023 Green Ghana Project, appealed for further support.
“As we speak, our approved budget by the Ministry of Finance for the Green Ghana this year is GH¢2.5 million. But we are not going to say we won’t do it, so we have started appealing for funds. Last year we got in excess of GH¢2 million so this year, we expect that with the pledges and commitments, we will get something to shore up.”
The government is targeting to plant some 10 million trees this year. The number represents a reduction in last year’s target of 20 million.
Launching this year’s Green Ghana Project, Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor said several factors accounted for the government’s failure to meet last year’s target.
“On the maiden edition of the Green Ghana Day, we targeted 5 million trees and with your support, over 7 million trees were planted. Last year, we raised our ambition and targeted at least 20 million trees, and again, with your support, 24 million trees were planted, bringing the total number of trees planted to over 30 million trees.
“So far, the field assessment report shows that, on average, we had a 72 percent survival rate last year as compared to the 81 percent survival rate in 2021. While adequate measures were put in place to ensure the survival of all trees planted, a number of external factors accounted for the survival rates including rainfall patterns, wildfires, and soil fertility.”
Celebrated on the theme, ‘Our Forests, Our Health,’ Mr Jinapor indicated the reduction in the number of trees to be planted in this year’s Green Ghana Day will help create ample time for the nurturing of the already planted trees to enhance the survival rate.
“The survival rate shows that we still have some 23 million trees to nurture. It is for this reason that this year, the government has decided to revise our target downwards to 10 million trees to give us some devoted resources and attention to the trees planted over the last two years while not wasting momentum on our quest to restore our degraded landscape.”
