The last man dies when the last tree dies: The importance of Green

“The last man dies when the last tree dies” Although this adage is relatively well-known around the world, its actual spirit and significance are frequently overlooked. Without trees, it is unlikely that man would be able to survive even for a moment in the environment. In order to prevent this quote from coming true in our current era and to support international efforts to combat climate change, the government, through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, launched the Green Ghana Day in 2021 as a vigorous reforestation/afforestation program aimed at restoring and planting trees.

The Green Ghana Day’s initial year of implementation saw the planting of 7 million tree seedlings, exceeding its initial goal of 5 million. The program’s objectives were to: Increase National Awareness of the Need for Collective Action Towards Restoration of the Country’s Degraded Landscape; Instill in Young People the Values of Planting and Caring for Trees and Their Associated Benefits; Mitigate Climate Change; and Improve Livelihoods For Rural Communities Through Their Eng During the planting activity in 2021, tree seedlings of the royal palm, coconut, pawpaw, and many decorative plant varieties were among those planted.

The President of the Republic officially inaugurated the 2022 Green Ghana Day on March 1st with the theme “Mobilizing for a Greener Future” and an ambitious goal of 20 million tree seedlings, building on the success of the first edition. The Ministry used a two-pronged plan to carry out the 20 million seedlings since they knew it would need more people and a lot of work to pull it off. The country’s deteriorated Forest Reserve segments were the target of the initial strategy, which involved planting 10 million trees.

The opportunity to adopt some of these compartments on degraded areas was extended to various groups, who then had their names added to the compartments following planting. In accordance with the second strategy, an additional 10 million tree seedlings were planted on farms and in the vicinity of farm boundaries, along deteriorated watersheds, within communities, in road medians and avenues, and on the grounds of residences, schools, churches, and workplaces as well as on recreational areas.

The tree seedlings were equitably distributed depending on the sizes and capacities of the various areas in Ghana in an effort to accomplish the ambitious goal of 20 million.

Ahafo ​​1,000,000

Ashanti​​ 3, 500,000

Bono ​​1, 000,000

Bono East ​​1,200,000

Central ​​1,500,000

Eastern ​​2,000,000

Greater Accra ​2,500,000

North East ​​500,000

Northern ​​1,000,000

Oti ​​​600,000

Savannah ​​1,000,000

Upper East ​​600,000

Upper West ​​600,000

Volta ​​500,000

Western ​​1,000,000

Western North ​1,500,000

On the day of the planting, June 10, 2022, the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, led the country to set the ball rolling for the series of planting which took place in Accra, and all other regions nationwide.

At the end of the planting, a survey put together by the Forestry Commission, an agency under the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources estimated that a total of 26 million seedlings have been distributed nationwide, which well exceeds the initial 20 million target. The survey noted that among the 16 regions, the Ashanti, Ahafo, Bono, Bono East, Eastern and the Greater Accra Regions exceeded their targets while, the Northern, North East and Oti Region are yet to meet their target due to low rainfall in these regions.

From the 50% purported to be planted in the forest reserve, 40.2% is said to have been planted and the other 50% for homes and other locations have seen a 49.8 work done. An analysis on the most requested seedlings also showed that tree seedlings like Teak, Ofram, Cidrella, Acacia and Mahoghany were the most sort for during the planting, not forgetting fruits and Timber species.

In a bid to practicalize one of the main objectives of the Green Ghana day which is to inculcate the values of planting and nurturing trees and its associated benefits in the youth, the 2022 edition introduced the “One Student, One Tree” initiative which was launched at the Aggrey Memorial senior high school in the Central Region, with other second cycle schools in the region representing.

As the good book admonishes, show the child the path he should go and when he grows, he will not depart from it. With this initiative as an annual exercise, it is the hope of government that these young ones will not depart from this valuable practice inculcated in but would rather go a long way to keep trees growing on our land for our very lives and for generations to come.

The time has therefore come for all Ghanaians to as a matter of necessity rally behind Government, the Ministry and other partners to continuously make the Green Ghana Project a resounding success, all in an effort to also help mitigate the impact of climate change and promote a much greener world for human survival as stipulated by the Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG)16 which says that “Protect, Restore and Promote Sustainable Use of Terrestrial ecosystems, Sustainably Manage Forests, combat Desertification, Halt and Reverse Land Degradation and Halt Biodiversity Loss”