he Green Ghana Day was first launched by Government in 2021, under the auspices of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, as part of an aggressive afforestation and reforestation agenda, to restore the lost forest cover of the country. The maiden edition targeted the planting of five million (5,000,000) trees, but over seven million (7,000,000) trees were planted. Last year, over twenty-six million (26,000,000) trees were planted, exceeding the target of twenty million (20,000,000).

The Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has launched this year’s Green Ghana Day project in Kumasi at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and charged institutions to take responsibility for their role in the continuous degradation of the environment. Within a spate of five years – from 2010 to 2015, the country lost a total of 160, 210 hectares of forest cover as compared to 157, 300 hectares of forest cultivated between 1967 to 2016.

As part of this, DCE Hon Adam Eliasu led a tree-planting exercise in Daboya to mark this year’s North Gonja District edition of the GREEN GHANA DAY initiative. The District received about 10,200.00 seedlings from the Forestry Commission; Hon Red Bawa together with some heads of institutions and school pupils planted the trees at public places and institutions to pave the way for the Youth In Forestry Module of the NYEA to hit every section of the District with the tree planting exercise.

The North Gonja District is richly endowed with natural resources. These resources serve an important role in the cultural history, development, and economic prosperity of the District. The district is endowed with a rich forest reserve that constitutes part of the Mole National Park. Wildlife resources have been especially important for the livelihood of people living in rural areas. However, in the process of utilizing these resources to meet a range of socio-economic needs the wildlife resources of the district have been severely depleted.