NGO spearheads tree planting project to protect

A Non-Governmental Organisation, River Run Indigenous Tree Plantation (RRITP), has intensified its tree planting exercise at Atwima in the Atwima-Kwanwoma District of the Ashanti Region to protect the environment.

The exercise, an initiative by Nana Antwi Agyei Brempong II, Atwimahene, seeks to plant as many tree species as possible within the community in the coming years.

“When the last tree dies, the last man dies,” the Chief told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview at Atwima.

This was after the NGO had led the planting of about 3,700 tree species along the banks of rivers and other water bodies in the community aside the over 3,500 tree seedlings it had planted to enhance the ecology and biodiversity.

Nana Brempong bemoaned the devastating effects of the changing climatic conditions on the environment, citing the shrinking of water bodies, global warming, flooding and other natural disasters as glaring threats to life.

He said promoting tree planting had become one of the most critical global human activities to deal effectively with the prevailing threats.

Issues relating to greenhouse emission, deforestation and global warming could be tackled head-on with the right attitude concerning how mankind dealt with the environment, he said.

The Chief hinted that the dredging of water bodies in his community to clear filth, had helped to stem flooding.

The exercise had also contributed immensely towards the healthy growth of trees planted some two years ago by the RRITP, in collaboration with its visiting friends from Murnau in Germany, and supported by Ashan Tree, an NGO.

The varied tree seedlings, according to the Atwimahene, were procured from the Forestry Commission, which was also helping with their upkeep and proper monitoring.

He said in the near future, the NGO would green wetlands to boost the ecological and scenic beauty of those areas, and that plans were also underway to deepen environmental education among the youth.