The management of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST, has urged stakeholders to ensure the sustainability of the Green Ghana Project.
Although KNUST is one of the few areas in the Ashanti Region where conscious efforts have been made to preserve the greenery in almost all areas, authorities of the school say there is still the need to plant more trees on the campus.
Also, as an institution with a strong focus on science, the school has underscored the need for the environment to be well protected.
As a result of this, the University on Friday, 11th June 2021, joined key personalities across the country to commemorate the tree planting day. The project initiated by government is aimed at preserving the environment and restoring Ghana’s lost greenery.
Speaking to Citi News, Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Prof. Rita Akosua Dickson, stated that the school is committed to planting 2,000 trees to augment the national effort.
According to her, there is a need for all Ghanaians to form a collective habit of planting and growing more trees in order to sustain a healthy environment.
She also stressed the need for relevant authorities to ensure the exercise is sustained.
“Led by the sector minister planting 5 million trees across the country, obviously we couldn’t be left out of this exercise, and that is why we have decided that both in and out of KNUST campus, all together, we are planting 2,000 trees to commemorate this day. This is the only land we have, hence we must all work to ensure that we keep it healthy. This should not be a one-off thing. It should be a continuous process so that collectively, we all become Eco-warriors”.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Science and Technology, Dr. Emmanuel Marfo, who doubles as the Member of Parliament for Oforikrom, also joined the management of KNUST in the tree planting exercise.
He indicated that the Green Ghana Project if sustained, will help Ghana recover majority of the country’s lost forest cover.
Dr. Emmanuel Marfo noted that Ghana’s forest reserves are at risk and as such, there is the need to sustain the tree planting exercise.
“As we know, the forest resources of the country are under threat. We are losing our forest at a rate of some 2% per annum and so the projection is that if we continue to lose our forest at this rate, by the year 2040, Ghana will be a net importer of timber. Apart from the timber resources that will be scarce, our forestry landscape will be also be degraded such that we will lose the natural serenity.”
The exercise at KNUST saw members of convocation, chiefs, members of the University governing board, the leadership of the Students Representative Council, Graduate Students Association, as well as other student environmental groups, participating.
One of the student groups, the Environmental Leadership Forum, urged other students and the youth to be part of the exercise.
Edwin Bamfo, the founder of the group, said: “We cannot have oxygen without trees. As a student group, we decided to join the initiative. Today, we are donating one hundred tree species to the KNUST project, and we are going to plant these trees at the faculty of allied health. We would like to encourage all students on campus and everywhere that tree planting and tree growing is a very necessary exercise we should all embark on”.
