Green Ghana Agenda: Eco-conscious Citizens urges gov’t to show real commitment, stop paying lip service

Awula Serwah, coordinator for Eco-conscious Citizens is calling on government of Ghana to show real commitment to the Greening Ghana Campaign.

The Green Ghana Day was instituted last year by Government, under the auspices of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, as part of an aggressive afforestation and reforestation agenda, to restore the lost forest cover of the country.

Speaking on the subject matter at a press briefing on Monday 5^th June, 2023 at Asanteson Garden, Accra, the Coordinator for Eco-conscious Citizens, Awula Serwah urged the president to show real commitment, by displaying real and concrete actions rather than just making mere statements.

She said. “…this is the way the government can show real commitment, not by just saying ‘I’m putting my presidency on the line,’ that we can all say, I can say I’m putting my being a coordinator on the line and I can sit there and just do whatever I like.

“We’re talking about taking concrete action,” she added.

Suggesting ways through which the government can achieve this, Awula Serwah, stated, “Revoking Executive Instrument (E.I.) 144 Forests (Cessation of Forest Reserve) Instrument 2022, that instrument has declassified parts of the Achimota forest so whiles we’re busy planting trees on one hand, on the other hand, the Achimota forest is the lungs of Accra because most of our greenbelt is gone…”

According to her, there is no point in declassifying parts of Achimota Forest.

“There is no point in declassifying parts of Achimota Forest, leave the Achimota forest as it is and then in addition, you can be planting more trees," Awula Serwah said.

She added that existing forests must be reserved if indeed there is seriousness in tackling climate change effects.

“Existing forests must be preserved, if we are serious about climate change and Green Ghana, we cannot with one hand destroy portions of our existing forest reserves and with the other hand purport to Green Ghana,” She stated.

Awula Serwah emphasized community mining saying, “Pausing Community Mining, our current monitoring and enforcement regime is weak, we are unable to effectively monitor the few big mining companies we have, and cannot therefore effectively monitor numerous community mining operatives, the unfortunate result is that community mining in many cases is destroying the environment, it is for this reason that activists in Mantukwa, Sefwi Atronsu and Apaitaim, to name a few say No to Community Mining."