About 22,200 seedlings of citrus, mango, cashew and shady trees like mahogany Portia and Cassia have been planted in 18 communities across the Upper West Region and Savannah Region.
These comprise of five Districts and Municipalities from the Upper West Region. They are Nadowli/Kaleo, Lawra, Jirapa, Sisaala East, Wa West, and one district from the Savannah region; Sawla -Tuna -Kalba.
The exercise was undertaken by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) together with community leadership and some other private actors under the EU’s Resilience Against Climate Change (REACH) project.
A team from REACH, led by a Technical Advisor, Prosper Wie, distributed and planted the seedlings in each community. Each community received between 1,000 and 1,500 seedlings depending on the size of the community, with each house receiving five seedlings comprising three fruit trees (Cashew, Mango, Citrus) and two shady trees.
At a brief handing over in Sampina in the Nadowli- Kaleo district of the Upper West Region, the Finance and Administration Manager, Anselm Kofi Taabazuing stated, “the REACH project takes keen interest in safeguarding the environment and making it a safe place for its inhabitants. The habit of cutting down trees must be strongly discouraged, and this can also be possible if all of us take interest in protecting our immediate environment.”
“These seedlings you see today, if you take proper care of it, in the next 2 to 3 years the entire community reaps the benefits. The project will be happy to see all the seedlings grow so well into trees. All we require of you is to take proper care of it. These trees will not only benefit the current generation but generations to come,” he said.
The Paramount Chief of Sampina, Naa Walter Kanubana Kporo, expressed the community’s appreciation to the REACH project for the gesture and pledged the community’s full commitment and support for the project.
He further indicated that his community would take full responsibility of the seedlings.
He said, “with my background as a retired forester, I am passionate about tree planting. I know the benefits of trees to mankind. I will ensure that every house takes care of the trees.”
EU’s REACH Project has 3 components. It includes provision of assistance to district planning teams to develop climate-smart development plans contributing to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of the Paris Climate agreement.
Additionally, the REACH project focuses on improving community and individual knowledge and practices in conservation agriculture (CA) through land-use mapping and the development of Community Action Plans (CAPs) while researching into the impacts of climate change on social transformation to inform future planning decisions.
Story filed by Mark Smith.
