Abor SHS schooled on forest preservation
A non-governmental organisation, Rural Urban Partnership for Africa (RUPFA), in collaboration with the Ghana Forestry Commission, has held a symposium for students of Abor Senior High School to educate them on the need to preserve the forest.
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The symposium was to create a platform for the students to be informed of the challenges Ghana’s forest was facing and for them to become ambassadors to campaign against the increasing depletion of the forest.
Annual loss
The Executive Director of RUPFA, Mr Richard Ashaley, in a presentation, indicated that statistically, the country was losing its forest annually by 30 per cent but very little was being done to preserve it.
According to him, over the years the focus had been on civil societies and individuals delivering long speeches on how Ghana was losing its forest instead of pursuing action-driven strategies and interventions.
“This time round, our focus is on the youth. They are the future leaders and must stand up to protect the forest. The rate at which Ghana is losing its forest reserve is worrisome,” he stated.
Mr Ashaley told the students that there were so many activities which caused deforestation such as mining, charcoal burning, bush fire, logging, chainsaw operation and others.
‘We are not saying we should not cut the trees for development. But we must do it in such a way that there would be reserve for future generations,’ he said.
Benefits of forest
He said the forest had a lot of benefits for the continuous existence of humans. Some of these, he pointed out, are production of fresh air and survival of river bodies, protection against harmful sun rays, biodiversity, medicine and promotion of tourism.
Responsibility
According to him, the management of the forest was not the sole responsibility of NGOs, the Forestry Commission or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) but a responsibility of all citizens.
Mr Ashaley, therefore, said it was time for the youth to take action and join the campaign to educate people on some of the practices that were depleting the forest and urge them to stop such practices.
The executive director disclosed that the campaign started three years ago and the target so far had been schoolchildren.
Students empowered
Some of the students who spoke to the Daily Graphic expressed their gratitude about the education they had received on the current state of Ghana’s forest, adding that the message would empower them to speak against illegal activities affecting the forest in their various communities.