The Forestry Commission of Ghana led by Mr. John Allotey, Chief Executive Officer, have paid a courtesy call on the Chairman of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Eric Nyamekye at the General Headquarters, La in Accra today.
According to the Chief Executive Officer, the visit was to inform the Chairman about the President of Ghana’s initiative to plant 20 million trees this year as part of the Green Ghana project.
He said looking at the performance of the tree planting exercise last year, it would be achievable this year.
He, however, explained that trees planted by the roads and avenues were challenging, yet, the Commission plans on meeting with the Parks and Gardens Department to help protect the trees through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
He revealed that the Government of Ghana through the Commission has adopted two strategies to tackle the objective of the exercise.
He noted that as part of the strategies, 50 percent (10 million) of the trees would be planted in degraded forest reserves where compartments have been dedicated to be bought by corporate organisations at an amount of GH₵ 1,550,000.
A compartment consists of 1,200 hectares (320 acres) of land with a planting of 133, 000 seedlings. He iterated that two compartments would be assigned to each of the 50 forest districts in Ghana labeled with the name of the organisation.
“The Church of Pentecost will pay for the cost of one-year maintenance and fencing of the land which will be used to cater for the community and members of the community managing them,” he noted.
He reiterated that the second strategy would allow individuals and corporates who willingly want to plants and adopt compartments without paying.
The Chairman of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Nyamekye, in response, said that the Church of Pentecost as an entity is concerned about the society because it is part of the society.
“The relevance of the church must first be seen through their works to make the society better,” he pointed out.
He added: “This is why The Church of Pentecost would like to partner with the Government of Ghana to ensure the success of the Green Ghana Planting exercise.
Apostle Samuel Gakpetor, Chairman, Environmental Care Campaign and Agormanya Area Head of the church indicated that the church would be planting one million trees this year and that the adoption of a compartment is a good idea to consider.
“Forestry Commission district offices will liaise with The Church of Pentecost districts and Areas to help assign the reserves to them,” he said.
He assured the Commission on the involvement of the church in planting more trees and contribute towards it.
The Forestry Commission delegation includes Mr. Hughes Brown (Director of Plantations, Forestry Commission), Elder Elisha Asiedu Amponsah (Director, Internal Audit of Forestry Commision), Loiusa Fuseini, and Adu Safo (Media / PRO).
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