MTN Ghana, in partnership with the Forestry Commission and the Rainforest Alliance, has planted 1,666 trees at the Chipa Forest Reserve in the Greater Accra Region as part of activities marking its Sustainability Month.
Sustainability Month Focus on Environment
The exercise, undertaken by staff volunteers, forms part of a month-long programme of internal and external activities aimed at promoting environmental awareness, encouraging sustainable practices and deepening understanding of environmental responsibility.
Speaking at the event, the General Manager for Sustainability and Shared Value at MTN Ghana, Georgina A. Fiagbenu, said the company dedicated the final week of its Sustainability Month to tree planting in recognition of the critical role of trees in environmental protection and human survival.
“We all know the importance of trees. It is said that when the last tree dies, the last man dies. That underscores how important trees are,” Mrs. Fiagbenu said.
“They improve our environment, help us breathe, give us shelter and protection, and improve our well-being.”
She said MTN approached the Forestry Commission and the Rainforest Alliance to support reforestation after deciding to contribute to restoring degraded forests.
Maintenance Plan to Ensure Survival
Mrs. Fiagbenu said the company has put in place a maintenance plan to ensure the survival of the trees.
“One of the problems I have is when people plant trees and just leave them. You go back and you don’t find them,” she said.
“We have asked the Rainforest Alliance to give us a plan to maintain and sustain this, so that when we come back next year or in two years, we will not have lost them.”
She disclosed that MTN has committed investment for post-planting monitoring, including regular checks and watering until the rains set in.
To ensure long-term impact, she added, tree planting will be made a permanent feature of MTN’s annual employee volunteering programme, 21 Days of Y’ello Care.
Forestry Commission Welcomes Partnership
The District Manager of the Tema-Ada Forest Service Division of the Forestry Commission, Linda Ansah, welcomed the partnership, saying the intervention will help restore the reserve to its original state.
“This forest reserve is called Chipa Forest Reserve. It was gazetted in the 1960s by the government, and we have portions that are degraded due to illegal harvesting of firewood and illegal logging,” Ms. Ansah said.
She said the government has over the years implemented several interventions to restore degraded portions of the reserve.
“We are glad that MTN, as part of your sustainability drive and as part of your 30-year celebration in Ghana, has come to partner with Forestry to plant trees to enable us to restore the degraded Chipa Forest Reserve,” she said.
Ms. Ansah said the exercise also forms part of the government’s Tree for Life initiative launched by President John Dramani Mahama, under which 30 million trees are targeted for planting across the country this year.
1,666 Trees Targeted for Two Hectares
“Today we are going to plant 1,666 tree species, which translates to two hectares. A hectare, using a planting distance of three meters by four meters, gives you 833 seedlings,” she explained.
She said the species selected mahogany, teak, and acacia were carefully chosen because they thrive in the area, grow fast, add nitrogen to the soil, and serve as carbon sinks.
She said the Commission will ensure maintenance through watering during the dry season, weeding, beating up replacing seedlings that do not survive and construction of fire belts to prevent bushfires.
Rainforest Alliance Calls for Sustained Action
The Country Director of Rainforest Alliance Ghana, Nicholas Jengre, commended MTN for the collaboration, describing it as critical to building a sustainable future where nature and people thrive together.
“Rainforest Alliance is a biodiversity organization. We have been in existence for nearly 40 years, and our main goal is to contribute to a sustainable world where nature and people thrive together,” Mr. Jengre said.
He said the project targets two hectares with 1,666 trees, but due to the dry weather, only half 833 trees were planted, with the remaining 833 to be planted at the onset of the rains in collaboration with the Forestry Commission.
“Because of the weather, you can see how dry it is. We couldn’t plant all the two hectares today. We planted half of it, that is 833 trees. But this is not small,” he said.
Mr. Jengre noted that a single matured tree can absorb an average of 22 kilograms of carbon dioxide, stressing the impact of the exercise on climate mitigation.
“If we had the 833 trees planted here, we would not have been feeling this heat,” he said, adding that restoration must go with technology, commitment and people.
He said the partnership between MTN, the Forestry Commission and Rainforest Alliance would help extend sustainability messages to millions of Ghanaians and thousands of farmers.
Mr. Jengre encouraged Ghanaians to be passionate about tree planting beyond the one-day event.
“You have demonstrated it today. It should not be just today. It should be sustained, else the sustainability agenda will be derailed down the road,” he said.
“When you plant a single tree, it is a home for several species of animals birds, insects, squirrels. If you come to my house, I have a number of trees. Let us make sure that wherever we go, we talk about tree planting.” He assured that the remaining trees would be planted as soon as the first rains come.
