The Ashanti Regional Manager for the Forestry Commission, Mr. Augustine Gyedu, has rubbished claims that forest reserves in the country have entirely lost their glory.
According to him, even though some of the forests have lost their status as they used to be about twenty or thirty years ago, it's not true that the forest has entirely lost its glory.
He revealed that the vigorous afforestation programme that was initiated by the ministry has been a success, and that has helped most reserve forests to regain their lost glories.
He said, there are many forest reserves within the Ashanti region that are currently in their intact state. He mentioned areas such as New Edubiase, Nkawie, Bekwai, etc where he indicated that forest reserves within those areas have been revamped to attraction.
He further revealed that the continuous afforestation programmes within the region have helped many forest reserves to regain their glories.
He said apart from the Green Ghana programme that has been projected with 20 million tree planting, the ministry is going to do the normal thirty thousand hector project every year, of which the Ashanti region is with no exception.
He commended some Private Plantation developers such as Miro Company and Form Ghana for their partnership and marvelous works in areas such as Drobonso and Offinso respectively. According to him, their contribution towards the re-afforestation program has been very impressive.
He however called on institutions, Churches, NGOs, etc to get themselves involved in the tree planting programme.
The Ashanti regional manager also took the opportunity to advise Ghanaians to protect Ghana’s forest reserves and water bodies to help benefit both the present and future generations.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with GhanaWeb on this year's world forest day, Mr. Gyedu stated that, every Ghanaian has a responsibility to protect Ghana’s natural resources like forest and water.
Revealing the motive for this year's celebration, Mr. Gyedu disclosed that the International Day of Forests is set aside by the United Nations (UN) on every 21st day of March to raise public awareness about the importance of forests to people and their vital role in poverty eradication, environmental sustainability, and food security.
He outlined illegal mining and illegal logging as some of the major challenges that confront the Commission's activities. He, therefore, appealed to the general public to help fight the illegalities within the environment in order to help protect Ghana’s forest reserves from destruction.
Ashanti Regional Manager for the Forestry Commission, Mr. Augustine Gyedu