Ghana is one of a few countries in the world blessed with so much resources, ranging from water, mineral resources, fertile lands to forests. We can boast about Aburi Garden, Achimota Forest Reserve and Atiwa Rain Forest among others, making us one of the most forested countries, with 35.1% of forest lands as at 2020.
The Chronicle is, however, saddened by the frequent felling of these trees, and the rise of deforestation in the country. Deforestation of Ghana’s primary forests jumped 60 percent between 2017 and 2018 – the biggest jump in any tropical country. Most of this occurred in the country’s protected areas, including its forest reserves.
These illegal activities endangering our forests call for immediate action from the Forestry Commission. However, the Forestry Commission, which was established to see to the sustainable management, development and protection of forest and wildlife resources, has not been up to the task.
The Chronicle is, indeed, appalled by another new trend where trees found in residential areas and located at the frontage of houses are cut down. The Forestry Commission has failed to strictly enforce the law of making those who cut down the trees plant replacement.
These trees benefit us in many ways than we can imagine, and they can cool the city by up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit, by providing shade for our homes and releasing water vapour into the air through their leaves.
Trees reduce flooding as well, since raindrops that land on leaves evaporate straight into the air, so less water reaches the ground, preventing soil erosion. This can prevent the frequent flooding that inundates flood-prone areas of Accra, like the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, Dzorwulu, Kaneshie and Odorkor, just to mention a few. If we so happen to have trees at flood-prone areas, these downpours would have been controlled.
The Green Ghana project initiative by the lands ministry is to help mitigate the negative effects of climate change and also restore degraded landscapes across the country. This initiative has resulted in the planting of a lot of trees but we must also make an effort to protect the existing trees.
The Forestry Commission on its part is turning a blind side to the illegal cutting of trees at areas like East Legon, in Accra. The Trees and Timber Act, 19741(1), states: “A person shall not cut or fell a growing tree for export in log form or for conversion in a mill unless that person has first registered a property mark at the office of the Executive Director, Forests Division of the Forestry Commission, endorsed for the locality in which that person proposes to cut or fell.”
With this law in place, we ask for the intervention of the Forestry Commission to control the rate at which our trees are being felled.
Vehicles and motorists that ply our roads emit carbon into the atmosphere so with the help of trees, they can mitigate climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide and other pollutants from the atmosphere while storing carbon.
Trees as we know produce oxygen which we consume to survive and so we must endeavor to protect them so they are in existence for generations to come. As the saying goes, “If the last tree dies, the last man dies.”
