Samuel A. Jinapor with members of the committee
The National Planning Committee for the 2022 Green Ghana Project has been launched with a charge to review the 2021 National Tree Planting exercise and make recommendations to the Government.
The Committee Members were unveiled at the Conference Room of the Ministry on Friday, October 15, 2021 with the Minister, Hon. Samuel A. Jinapor spelling out the mandate of the committee.
The Committee, according to the Minister has been assigned two major tasks which is to initiate steps for next year’s exercise and also conduct a comprehensive auditing of the 2021 Green Ghana exercise.
“Essentially what we are doing is to begin the planning ahead of 2022 Green Ghana. This team will also not just begin initial preparatory work for 2022 Green Ghana but also a review committee for 2021. It is important we recognize that we cannot have 2022 without consolidating and keeping abreast with our efforts of 2021 and its consequences”, he noted.
“This is a team I thought should review 2021, where are we with the projects, how many trees we planted, where are they and how are they doing, What are lessons and shortfalls”, he added.
Having disclosed the purpose of the committee, Hon. Jinapor affirmed his trust in the members to discharge their duties as expected.
He noted that the make-up of the group gives him reason to be confident that the objective of inculcating tree planting culture into Ghanaians will be attained.
He admonished the group to propose plans for the expansion of the project to every nook and cranny of the country.
Hon. Benito Owusu-Bio, the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources and Chairman of the committee gave the assurance that “we are going to take stock of what happened in 2021. Ghanaians are looking at us for feedback of what happened. God has blessed us and a lot of the trees have survived”.
Madam Joyce Aryee, a member of the committee, urged Ghanaians to embrace the initiative as a charge to protect the country’s vegetative cover and guard against global warming.
She said that committee will embark on sensitization campaign to make Ghanaians appreciate the importance of planting trees.
“We need to make sure this is owned by the citizen of Ghana. Ghanaians, as citizens should see this stewardship that they have towards the very environment that gives them life. Once we are able to let people know that they are not planting tree because the President or the Minister is saying it but it’s being done for the survival of our own lives and rivers, the survival of tree-air and the very things that we depend on. Once we are able to get this message across, I think we’ll win the heart of the people”, she added.
The Members of the Committee were drawn from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Forestry Commission, the Ghana Police Service, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environment, Forest Plantation Development Fund Board, Association of Ghana Industries, Ghana Education Service, Christian Council of Ghana, the Catholic Secretariat, the Ghana Chamber of Mines and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).