European Union Round Table to mark Environmental Day leads to important recommendations on reforestation and tree planting
The roundtable in Accra was to enable participants including the representatives of EU funded projects in Ghana, the government agencies, international organisations, and NGOs, to brainstorm on how to involve communities in greening efforts.
The EU Ambassador to Ghana, Mrs Diana Acconcia and other stakeholders, Dr Joyce Rosalind Aryee, Co-chair of the 5 Million Green Ghana Project, Ms Rita Weidinger Director of ComCashew programme and coordinator of the EU REACH project; Mr Edward Anaba Akunyagra from World vision and project manager of the EU Reversing Land Degradation project; Mr Michael O. Misbah, Director from GreenWay International and Mr Richmond Quarcoo, Director from Plastic Punch joined in the discussion.
The participants agreed on the following recommendations:
- Collaboration to create awareness and behaviour change
- Collaborate and partner with other entities. This leads to better results and promotes a collective effort towards a behaviour change.
- Engage and involve communities, in particular women and traditional leaders in reforestation.
- Explain at school why tree planting and reforestation is important to protect the environment and biodiversity.
- Promote and communicate all over Ghana the Green Ghana project.
- Prepare well where to plant trees
- Identify and plan, together with the district assemblies, proper places for tree planting and reforestation.
- Plant trees close to the sea. This avoids coastal erosion and protects the beaches.
- Trees as a business opportunity
- Have a market oriented approach and combine tree planting with agriculture practices
- Promote the tree planting as a business opportunity and a possibility to increase the income of the households.
- Maintenance and evaluation
- To increase the survival rate, nurture and maintain the trees after planting.
- Avoid to wrap the seedlings in plastic bags: identify a more sustainable way to protect them.
- Assess the impact of the 'Five million trees' initiatives and guarantee the sustainability of the project.
Find attached the full report.
Issued by the European Union Delegation to Ghana
For more information contact:
Susana Martins, Communication Coordinator
