By Naa Shormei Odonkor
Koforidua, June 07, GNA-Ms. Tharzia N. Akwetey, the Director of Agriculture for New Juaben South Municipal Assembly, has advised citizens to incorporate tree planting and backyard gardening into their building plans to mitigate climate change.
Trees are vital to the survival of all living things. They produce oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and provide essential food and medicine.
Ms. Akwetey was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Koforidua about the Green Ghana Day celebration.
She noted that despite the numerous benefits trees provided to sustain human life, people continued to cut down and burn trees indiscriminately to build houses.
She said that in urban cities, such as Koforidua, trees were often cleared to make way for construction projects, without replanting new ones, leading to a significant decline in tree cover.
She also pointed out that people have recently adopted practices such as cementing, tiling, and paving their compounds without planting trees or maintaining the soil for drainage, which is contributing to flooding in urban cities.
According to her, the Forestry Commission in Eastern Region has supplied the Department with 1,100 tree seedlings, comprising 100 coconut and 1,000 ornamental tree seedlings which will be distributed to citizens for planting.
She explained that the ornamental tree seedlings, comprising both short and tall varieties, were suitable for planting in schools and along roadsides.
According to her, the seedlings have been distributed to various schools and individuals.
Ms. Akwetey advised citizens who have received the tree seedlings to care for them by regularly watering and weeding around them to ensure that the seedlings grow into beautiful trees.
“We have received information that some of the trees planted in the previous years did not survive because they were not properly taken care of,” she said.
As a result, she stated that the agricultural department would conduct regular monitoring and maintenance of the tree seedlings distributed to ensure that they grow and thrive.
GNA
