The Management and staff of Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG), led by their Managing Director, Mr. Daniel Addo, have rallied the citizens of Kwahu Mpraeso towards restoring the Hwehwe Forest Reserve in the Eastern Region.
With the assistance of the Forestry Commission, the community leaders and their people, as well as volunteers, backed the Banking professionals to plant some 2000 seedlings of the Cedrela and Gmelina species, on Friday.
The has offered to sponsor the re-forestation of the degraded 125-acre Southern Scape Forest at Mpraeso.
The activity forms part of an ongoing effort by CBG to promote environmental sustainability and support the Government’s annual tree planting initiative.
Following the launch of its Go Green – Tree Planting initiative on June 5, 2024, the Bank aims to plant 60, 000 trees in three years across communities in the country.
The initiative is to support the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement.
The initiative, “Go Green” with the theme: “Growing for a Greener Tomorrow: CBG’s Commitment,” aims to plant 60,000 trees across local communities to restore and preserve the natural landscape.
Mr. Addo underscored the relevance of the initiative, saying that the Bank was fully committed to environmental sustainability and climate change.
Trees play critical roles in addressing the challenges of the environment – absorbing carbon dioxide, producing oxygen, preventing soil erosion and providing habitats for countless species of plants and animals.
The MD emphasised: “You know it is said that when the last tree dies, the last man dies. Over the last year, you have also noticed the attention that has been paid to the issues of sustainability and climate change. As an organisation, we do have a responsibility to our shareholders, but we also have a responsibility to the wider stakeholders, which include the community in which we operate.”
“So, we have a big responsibility to deal with the pressing problem of the day, and certainly deforestation and its related challenges are big problems in this country, which is why we are focused on them. That is one of the key pillars of our corporate social responsibility agenda, and that is why we are investing our resources.”
The MD said that the Bank, in collaboration with the Forestry Commission, had designed a framework to ensure that the trees planted would be nurtured to grow.
Nana Sarfoa Agyapoma, the Queen Mother of Kwahu Hwehwe, commended the Bank for choosing the community.
She urged other corporate institutions to emulate CBG and make efforts to restore Ghana’s lost forest vegetation.
Mr. Isaac Adonteng, Vice President, Ghana Institute of Foresters (GIF), also commended the MD and the staff.
He said if the Bank and other stakeholders sustained such an initiative, Ghana would be able to restore its lost forest vegetation in the next five years.
Mr. Adonteng also noted that GIF, as a professional body, would provide technical support and expertise to any organisation that intended to plant trees.
Forests provide crucial ecosystem services for human wellbeing, sustainable development and ultimately sustain life on earth.
Ghana has, however, witnessed a significant decline in forest cover over the years to mostly illegal logging, agricultural activities and illegal mining.
From 8.2 million hectares in 1990, the forest cover has dwindled to 1.6 million hectares, according to the Speaker of Parliament.
Source: GNA
