Forestry Commission to plant 100,000 trees in Northern Region
The Forestry Commission (FC) has targeted the planting of 100,000 trees in the Northern Region this year, as part of efforts to restore the forest cover of the region.
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The commission plans to achieve the target through the distribution of tree seedlings and provision of technical support to institutions that would be collaborating with it in that endeavour.
The Northern Regional Director of the Forestry Services Division, Mr Atuahene Nyarko, disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in an interview at a sensitisation forum organised by Rural Urban Partnership for Africa (RUPFA), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), for students of the Tamale Senior High School (TAMASCO) at the school’s assembly hall.
The forum was to share with the students the benefits of protecting the forest and biodiversity and the negative impact of the destruction of the country’s forest and biodiversity which leads to desertification, drought and climate change.
The Northern Region continues to lose its forest resources through the indiscriminate cutting down of trees for firewood and charcoal burning, which have assumed alarming proportions, according to experts.
Statistics
Statistics provided by the FC indicate that currently, there are 24 forest reserves covering an area of 1,197 square kilometres in the Northern Region, while an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report indicates that the region loses 38,000 hectares of its forest cover annually.
Earlier at the forum, Mr Nyarko said the cutting down of trees, particularly shea nut trees for use as fuel wood and for charcoal burning had reached an alarming proportion and called on all to help check the practice.
“Surprisingly, the Northern Region, which has not got many trees, unlike the southern part of the country, has now become the centre for charcoal burning business and day in and day out truckloads of charcoal are sent to the south to be sold,” he said.
Mr Nyarko, therefore, called on the students to spread the message on the effects of cutting down trees on the environment in their communities to help protect the remaining trees in the region.
Prosecution
He called on the law enforcement agencies to show interest in forest-related crimes as their contribution to protecting the forest and biodiversity of the country.
Mr Nyarko also called on the courts to impose heavy fines on offenders to deter others from engaging in the same acts to protect the country’s forests.
The Executive Director of RUPFA, Mr Richard Ashaley, commended the commission for making available 17,300 tree seedlings for planting by RUPFA for its afforestation programme and also expressed his gratitude to the Chief of Sagnarigu for giving out 20 acres for the afforestation project.
A representative of the chief of Sagnarigu, the Garize-Naa Alhassan Y. Andani, for his part, commended RUPFA for the initiative to educate students on the benefits of forest and biodiversity and the negative impact of deforestation.
The Assistant Headmaster of TAMASCO, Mr Abdulai Baba, also called on the students to spread the message in their communities and lead the crusade for tree planting.