“For over many years now, I have been involved in planting trees. This is because the Green Economy is at the centre stage of the global sustainable development goals and continues to attract various discourses on how to materialize this goal for the common good of all mankind,” he said.
The Member of Parliament for Ledzokuku Constituency in the Greater Accra Region, Hon Benjamin Ayiku Narteh today led the people of Ledzokuku in the ” Green Ghana ” project.
At a brief ceremony this morning at the Teshie southern cluster of schools, the MP planted a tree as part of the Green Ghana project.
Green Ghana is an initiative that aims at planting five million trees in a single day across the country. The thrust of the project is to plant more trees to preserve the country’s forest cover and the environment.
According to the MP,
“Trees give off oxygen that we need to breathe. Most often we plant trees to provide food, shade and beautify our landscapes. These are great benefits but trees also provide other less obvious benefits”.
He stated the following as some other benefits of trees
• Trees make life nicer. It has been shown that spending time among trees and green spaces reduces the amount of stress that we carry around with us in our daily lives.
• Trees reduce the urban heat island effect through evaporative cooling and reducing the amount of sunlight that reaches parking lots and buildings.
• They improve our air quality by filtering harmful dust and pollutants such as ozone, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide from the air we breathe.
• Trees can complement the architecture or design of buildings or entire neighborhoods.
Having shared a few of the benefits of trees, He encouraged all residents in the constituency to participate in the initiative. “I urge you to adopt tree planting as both a hobby and your contribution towards securing a better environment for the next generation.” As the saying goes “When the last tree dies, the last man dies.” This saying is one of the commonest in the Ghanaian society, however, its meaning is rarely put in consideration. Without trees it is doubtful that man will be able to survive even for a second on earth.
In concluding his address he advised that while we all strive towards improving our environment by planting trees let us all owe it a duty and responsibility to protect the very few trees in our surroundings by avoiding indiscriminate cutting of trees.
