Mr Samuel Kwabena Nketiah, an environmentalist, has emphasised the need to plant acacia trees and harvest them for charcoal production instead of resorting to forests for such purposes.
Mr Nketiah, a member of the National Planning Committee of the Ghana Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (GhREDD+), said acacia trees grew between three and five years, and sprout after being felled, thus ensuring replenishment.
He said such potentials of acacia trees made them suitable for charcoal production which also ensured sustainable environment.
Mr Nketiah made these remarks when he addressed a forum organised by the Forestry Commission for students at Damongo to mark the start of the GhREDD+ Road Show, which was intended to create awareness amongst the populace on the need to adopt sustainable land use practices to save the environment.
The GhREDD+ Road Show event, under the auspices of the Forestry Commission and other partners, is a country-wide mass communication campaign involving radio discussions, road processions, and public sensitisation among others to galvanize public support for measures targeted at addressing unsustainable land-use practices in the country.
It is envisaged that the successful implementation of GhREDD+ would help reduce the impact of climate change in the country.
The Damongo event saw students from basic, second cycle and tertiary institutions process through the principal streets of the town carrying placards with various inscriptions that called for the conservation of the environment.
Mr Nketiah said charcoal production had become business for some people along the forests, but cautioned that it should not be done in a manner that would lead to deforestation and forest degradation, which had consequences for climate change and loss of livelihoods.
He disclosed that about 65,000 hectares of the country’s forests was depleted annually, a situation which called for measures to save the forests and conserve the environment.
He urged the people to use improved cook stoves to reduce the quantity of charcoal used for cooking to reduce pressure on the forests and the environment.
Mr Robert Bamfoe, Head of the Climate Change Unit of the Forestry Commission, called for behavioral change by avoiding the cutting of trees to save the environment.
Mr Bamfoe said: ?We do not have to harvest the forest unsustainably and expect to develop sustainably,? and urged the public to practice afforestation.
The GhREDD+ Road Show Committee also visited Mognori Eco Village and Murugu in the West Gonja District to educate residents about sustainable land-use practices to enhance their livelihoods.
The Committee, including officials of the Northern Region Office of the Forestry Commission, also called on the Damongo-Wura, Jakpa Lemon Tuntumba II, Chief of Damongo in the Gonja Traditional Area, to brief him about the GhREDD+ initiative.
Meanwhile, the GhREDD+ Road Show event will be held this month in three other municipalities across the country, namely, Dormaa, Tarkwa Nsuaem and Hohoe.
GNA
