Ama Odame Okyere partner EPA, NSP to plant trees

Nana Ama Odame Okyere, Director and founder of the Ama Odame Okyere Foundation, together with National Service Personnel (NSP) of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have embarked on a tree planning exercise in Accra, to say the environment.

The three-day exercise was started on Wednesday, July 22, 2015, and ended on Friday, July 24, 2015, on the theme: “Plant Trees, Save Environment”. In all 500 seedlings were planted along the Awoshie-Pokuase road in the Ga Central Municipal Assembly.

The towns along the Awoshie-Pokuase road which benefited from the exercise included: Awoshie, Anyaa, Palas Town, Nsoufa, Fanmilk and Odorgonno Senior High School.

The Chairman of the EPA National Service Personnel Tree Planting Initiative, Mr. Faisal Seidu, in an interview said the 2014/2015 service personnel of the EPA took this initiative to combat issues of climate change and also inculcate the habit of tree planting in Ghanaians.

He said the exercise was also to serve as a wake-up call to Ghanaians to see the urgent need in planting trees to save the environment, as well as educate the citizens on the benefits of trees.

According to Mr. Seidu, it is an established fact that trees cool the system by 10% degrees Fahrenheit, and help purify the air for safe breathing; adding that people living in areas which have more trees planted tend to have longevity as compared with those living in the industrial areas of the country.

“Trees cool the system by 10% degrees Fahrenheit, so if we can get the workable force of Ghanaians planting a tree at least every month, you can imagine the fine weather we will have here in Ghana,” he advocated.

The EPA NSP Tree Planting Committee chairman said the exercise was the maiden edition, and was hoping that it becomes a bi-annual or annual event even when his badge group national service had ended.

He called on the government and other stakeholders to support the initiative in order for it to be extended to other industrial parts of the country aside from Accra.

Nana Ama Odame Okyere, Director and Founder of the Ama Odame Okyere Foundation which is due to be launched in Accra on August 1, 2015 said her foundation decided to partner with the EPA NSP on the tree planting exercise because the two organizations share the same or similar goals on preserving the environment.

Ama Odame Okyere who was a second runner-up in the 2014 Ghana’s Most Beautiful Show and participated in the Miss Earth contest on promoting the environment, reiterated that trees do a lot of good to the environment, and so it was important that Ghanaians saw the need in planting more trees even in their homes.

“Trees control flood, they purifies the air...they even act as noise absorbers. So planting more trees is the best way we can have our environment safe,” Ms Odame emphasized.

She also advised Ghanaians to desist from throwing rubbish into gutters especially during rainfall, saying: “When dump refuse into the gutters where do they do, nowhere than back to us.”

She further advised that the populace must take issues of sanitation seriously in every corner they found themselves. “That shouldn’t only be Zoomlion’s job,” she cautioned.

Mrs. Sally Biney, Acting Director of Accra West Region of EPA, lauded the initiative of the 2014/2015 badge of the EPA National Service Personnel, saying it is a very important idea as far as the environment is concerned.

She said apart from the ability of tress to purify the atmosphere, produce oxygen for breathing and enhance energy, trees are also used for beautification purposes and they serve as windbreaks, as well as noise absorbers when planted along roads.

Mrs. Biney said the Ga Central EPA will collaborate with the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) to care for the trees after they have been planted, to ensure that the objectives of planting them are met, and efforts not becoming a nine-day wonder.