The government intends to plant five million trees in a day across the country as an initial programme under its Green Ghana Project.
The trees are scheduled to be planted on June 11 this year and Ghanaians would be mobilised to plant trees on the day and nurture them to maturity as a way of contributing to the preservation of the environment.
The exercise would commence with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Vice President Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, and the Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin Yeboah, planting trees.
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, disclosed this in Accra yesterday when he inaugurated a 60-member national planning committee to oversee the implementation of the Green Ghana Project.
He said various groups, including traditional leaders, security agencies, Green World activists, and private sector players, would also be galvanised to contribute their resources, energies and support for the project to increase significantly the country’s forest cover.
The minister said members of the committee were drawn from various state agencies, groups and other stakeholders, including Ghana Revenue Authority, Forestry Commission, Ghana Cocoa Board, Volta River Authority, Minerals Commission, Trade Union Congress, Ghana Union of Traders Association, Zoomlion Ghana Limited and the security agencies.
The Committee, to be chaired by former Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and Member of Parliament for Atwima-Nwabiagya, Benito Owusu Bio, will operate through four sub-committees, including Finance; Operations and Logistics; Publicity and Protocol; and Monitoring and Reporting.
Mr Jinapor said it would operate by its own rules and procedures and as such was permitted to establish as many sub-committees and teams and patronise consultancy services as it may deem fit for the realisation of its mandate.
He noted that the government expected that the work of the committee would, as much as practicable, be decentralised.
He said the membership of the committee is made up of men and women who have the skills to ensure the successful execution of the project within the scheduled period.
In view of the impact of small-scale mining on the forest cover, Mr Jinapor disclosed that in the interim, the government had directed the Forestry Commission, except in exceptional circumstances, not to issue Forest Entry Permits for mining purposes until otherwise determined.
Source: allafrica.com