Government will today, Friday, June 11, 2021, kick-start an ambitious exercise to plant five million trees as part of efforts to preserve the environment.

The initiative is being championed by the Forestry Commission and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.

Through media publications and public broadcasts, the public has been urged to fully partake in the initiative by getting free seeds supplied by the government through local Forestry Commission district offices or district assemblies for planting.

Meanwhile, Parliament has suspended sitting for today due to the exercise.

The House took a decision that the sitting be suspended to enable Members of Parliament go to their respective constituencies to participate in the tree planting exercise.

President Akufo-Addo will also be expected to plant a tree today which has been declared as ‘Green Ghana Day.’

The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, while launching the initiative earlier this week, said the exercise is an investment into the future.

“As part of the programme, we are seeking to work out a formula where the trees to be planted will be economic trees. We are talking about the Timber, Wawa, Nim, Rosewood, Shea trees. The rationale for this intervention is so that in planting the trees, we are also making an investment for the future,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo in a video to encourage Ghanaians to support the initiative earlier this month, said, “we cannot sit back and watch as our trees, flora and fauna wiped out”.

“Our very existence is tied directly to the survival of trees”, he said, adding that, “Without the oxygen that is produced by trees, we cannot survive as humans”.

“So, on Friday, 11 June, the tree-planting exercise will ensure that we are not only sowing seeds for one day, but also for generations to come…I urge all Ghanaians to join this clarion call and help preserve our environment.”