The exercise, which was undertaken in collaboration with the St. Joseph’s Technical School and Yendi Municipal Department of Forestry, is to help restore the depleting vegetation cover and fight climate change in the area.

The tree species planted included teak, accasia and mahogany.

The tree planting exercise formed part of the Noble Order of the Knights and Ladies of Marshall's project dubbed: “Marshallan Environmental Action Programme”, that seeks to promote sustainable environment and fight climate change. 

Climate change 

Speaking after the tree planting exercise at Saboba last Saturday, the Knights of Marshall Supreme Officer Responsible for MAREDES and Advocacy, Samuel Zan Akologo, said climate change was a phenomenon that had dire effects on sustainable livelihoods, and the surest way it could be addressed was by planting trees.

He noted that the move was not only in line with the government’s Green Ghana agenda, but also aligned with the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference's five-year "Laudato Si Action" programme aimed at preserving the environment.

Mr Akologo said “We are doing this in an effort to help address the problem of climate change and its associated effects, such as improper rainfall patterns which affects agricultural activities.”

He appealed to the community members to put in place adequate measures to ensure that the trees were protected and survived to achieve the purpose for which they were planted. 

He also stressed the need for stakeholders to increase public sensitisation to the dangers associated with indiscriminate felling of trees in communities to help achieve a sustainable environment. 

Commendation

For his part, the Principal of St. Joseph’s Technical School, Maxwell Atingyena, thanked MAREDES and its partners for the intervention, and said it would go a long way to help address the environmental challenges resulting from the regular cutting down of trees for various purposes.

He gave the assurance that he would engage relevant community stakeholders with the support of his students, to protect the trees so they survived. 

A resident, Johnson Bilegnan, who spoke to the Daily Graphic, said “the rainfall pattern this year has not been favourable to us and I believe this is partly caused by the indiscriminate felling of trees in this area. This exercise by MAREDES and their partners, I think, will help solve this problem in a few years ahead.”