Five trees have been planted at Odorgonno Senior High School as part of the national ‘Tree for Life Planting Initiative’, led by the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) and the Ga Central Municipal Assembly.
The exercise, held on the school’s compound at Awoshie, forms part of ongoing efforts championed by President John Dramani Mahama and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources through the Forest Commission to promote afforestation and environmental protection.
Municipal Chief Executive Emmanuel Adottey Allotey said secondary schools were targeted to instill environmental consciousness in students.
“Our children must be educated on the need to protect the environment and also to help nurse dead trees and ensure we plant more,” he said.
He urged school authorities and students to nurture the trees, warning against wasted efforts. “I don’t want our follow-up visit in about a month or a year to be in vain by seeing that our efforts in planting trees today have been wasted,” Mr. Allotey said.
He added, “as the saying goes, ‘when the last tree dies, the last man dies’.”
Mr. Allotey stressed that afforestation remains key to protecting Ghana’s forests.
He cited President Mahama’s directive to procure plastic and metal school chairs instead of wooden ones as a measure to reduce tree felling.
Ga Central Municipal NADMO Director Hakeem Asamoah said his outfit and the agriculture department will pay working visits to the school from time to time to monitor the growth of the plants.
He added that seedlings will be shared among all 13 electoral areas in the municipality for planting to make the ‘Tree for Life Initiative’ a success.
Acting Agriculture Director of the Ga Central Municipal Assembly, Deborah Wiredu, said trees are important because they absorb carbon dioxide from the environment and reduce greenhouse gas effects in the air, helping to stabilise the climate.
She urged the public to take care of both old and new plants because they are all important, and cautioned against indiscriminate tree felling.
