The Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church has set a target to plant 500,000 trees to complement the government’s Green Ghana Project.
The Church said it has embraced the project and has begun mobilizing its members across the country to support the Green Ghana initiative, which is aimed at planting five million trees.
The government’s initiative of planting trees to address, among other things, the effects of climate change, has received widespread support from the Ghanaian populace.
The Green Ghana Project, which also seeks to address the depleting forest cover of the country, is being replicated by several institutions and other interest groups.
At a short ceremony to launch the tree planting exercise by the Church, President of the Northern Union branch of the SDA Church, Pastor Dr. Kwame Kwanin Boakye, said the Church and its members have fully embraced the Green Ghana Project and will support the initiative.
“It is a wonderful thing that we own and accept what the President has proposed. So Seventh-Day Adventist Church and all our members have grabbed this important vision, and we are aiming at planting 500,000 trees. Ghana has to be green, and it is not one man’s business. In fact, the government cannot do it all by itself; it will need every citizen”, he said
He urged Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and the Forestry Commission, to give out seedlings to individuals and institutions seeking to support the project.
Although the government has outlined some measures to ensure the project is sustained, Dr. Kwanin Boakye indicated that there is a need for effective education by Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to ensure a change of attitude towards sustainable environmental protection and growth.
“We fell trees indiscriminately, which is not helping the nation; so we want to entreat DCEs and MCEs to do enough education because some of us will not know the benefit of the trees we cut down. This time around we first want enough education before even laws can be enacted”, he urged
He also called on every Ghanaian to embrace the Green Ghana Project, devoid of partisanship.
Other religious groups have also begun mobilizing their members to plant trees at selected locations as part of the project.
The Church of Pentecost, for instance, has planted 12,000 trees at the Barekese Dam site, and it aims to plant one million across the country to support the Green Ghana Project.
Several religious leaders have called on Ghanaians to ensure that the government’s vision for the Green Ghana Project is achieved.
