Project to Sustain Ghana's Forest Reserves

AN AFFORESTATION Project, aimed at replenishing the depleting forest reserves in the Ashanti Region at a sustainable rate, has been launched in Kumasi.

Dubbed “Carbon Credit Project,” which is being spearheaded by a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Vision 2050 Forest Foundation, seeks to involve individuals, families, and civil society groups in the sustenance of the country’s forests, through a proposed “Plant a Tree for Cash” system.

Beneficiaries of the project, funded through the United Nations Carbon Credit Fund, would be assisted by the NGO to plant specific numbers of trees on available bare lands, and would be paid, as part of plans to arrest the effects of deforestation, and its resultant impact on climatic changes across the globe.

The Carbon Credit Fund was set up by the world body to provide financial support to countries, individuals, groups and civil societies committed to the maintenance of our environment, through the planting of trees. It also hopes to reduce poverty in poor countries through the provision of loan facilities to people engaged in the planting of trees. Ghana is a member of the UN Carbon Credit Project, and is also a signatory to the United Nations Charter on Climate Control.

The continuous depletion of forest reserves, according to experts, results in the release of huge quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which subsequently affects the ozone layer, thus resulting in global warming. The project, which took off several years ago in other regions in Ghana, is targeted at registering about 25 million people across the country, with six million specifically in the Ashanti Region, to plant an average of 100 trees per person by the year 2050, to save the country’s forests from total destruction.

In the short term, beneficiaries, who would be registered for the project, would be provided with 100 seedlings by the NGO, and would qualify for the Carbon Credit Fund after one year, involving the allocation a minimum of GH¢10,000, on condition that the trees are kept in good shape by the beneficiaries.

Additionally, the organisation would provide beneficiaries with both technical advice and expertise on the best scientific practices, to ensure the survival of the trees. Speaking at the official launching of the programme over the weekend, a lecturer at the Kwame University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Forest Resources and Technology, Sunyani campus, Dr. Daniel E. K. Siaw, noted that the wanton destruction of the nation’s forest reserves should be a source of concern for all.

He indicated that Ghana’s forest reserves, which was 8.6 million hectares five decades ago, has now been reduced to 1.6 million hectares, a situation which, according to him, puts the nation in a vulnerable position, and needs urgent action by all citizens.

According to him, Ghana’s forest reserves was enough to last for only 25 years, stressing that if nothing was done to replenish the depletion of the forests, future generations would find it extremely difficult to survive on the planet.

He attributed the incident to widespread agricultural practices, increase in population and urbanisation, timber businesses, and surface mining.

Dr. Siaw noted that it was in view of the above challenges that the Carbon Credit Project should be embraced by all Ghanaians, to forestall the long term challenges posed as a result of deforestation.

An executive member of the Vision 2050 Forest Foundation, Mr. Frank Kofi Frimpong, stated that the organisation had chalked tremendous successes since its establishment in Ghana 21 years ago, adding that pilot projects embarked on at various places across the country, have all yielded positive results for both the environment and the beneficiaries.