Ghana to reduce carbon emissions by 64m tonnes by 2030

PRESIDENT Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says Ghana will by 2030 reduce carbon emissions by about 64 million tonnes.

   Giving a speech at this year’s national tree planting day commemoration, the president emphasized the need to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, such as agriculture, illegal mining, illegal logging, and wildfires, to achieve the country’s emission reduction targets.

   “We shall continue to deepen our resilience and adapt to climate change by improving early warning systems, promoting climate-resilient agriculture, restoring degraded lands, and protecting coastal zones to achieve our vision of becoming a low-carbon and climate-resilient country,” Akufo-Addo added.

   The national tree planting day, also known as Green Ghana Day, has been a day when the Ghanaian government calls on people to plant new trees to help the country recover its degraded forest cover.

   “This is a clarion call to the need to preserve our forests for our own survival. We must do this with a sense of urgency and renewed purpose. Success depends on our collective action. We owe this, not only to ourselves, but also to generations to come, and we must do it with a spirit of nationalism,” the president added.

   During the day, Ghana’s Forestry Commission joined the diplomatic missions in Ghana to plant trees at the Achimota Forest in Accra, the capital of Ghana.

   The targeting number of the tree-planting across the country is 10 million, the commission revealed.