NGO launches project to restore destroyed vegetative cover

Kumasi, June 12, GNA - Environmental NGO, Alliance for Environmental Intervention (AfEI), has launched a tree planting project to assist restore the vegetative cover of mined areas.

Mr. Bonaventure Kwame Takpah, Executive Director of AfEI, said this was being done in partnership with the Forestry Commission, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Centre for Environmental Research and Policy Analysis.

Dubbed 'one child, one tree project' it is targeting children in mining communities - to inspire and motivate them to take responsibility for the environment.

Mr. Takpah told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that under it, the children would be encouraged to plant and nurture trees to bring back the forest cover.

He spoke of the determination of his organization to lead the national campaign towards safeguarding the environment.

He added that the degradation of the forest could not be allowed to continue since that could have dire consequences.

Ghana reportedly lost 2.51 million hectares or 33.70 per cent of the forest cover within the space of a decade (1990 and 2010), representing an annual average loss of 2.03 per cent, during the period.

The estimated annual average deforestation rate for year 2011 and 2012, was also put at 1.37 per cent.

This compared with the low afforestation effort provides ominous signs of trouble in terms of biodiversity and climate change.

Mr. Takpah indicated that there was the need for urgent response to halt the degradation and promote sustainable forest management.

He said everything must be done to make sure that the environment was safe for living species.

GNA

By Josephine Nyarkoh, GNA