Department of Geography Education Marks ‘Green Ghana Day’
The Department of Geography Education, University of education, Winneba joined hands with the Effutu Municipal Forestry Commission to celebrate the ‘Green Ghana Day’, a day set aside to plant five million trees across the country in a bid to curb global warming.
The Department planted 200 seedlings on all three campuses of Winneba and went to Muni Pomadze Ramsar site to plant 5,000 seedlings, including economic trees like Rosewood, Mango, Wawa and Shea. March 23 of every year, is marked the International Day of Forest with the motive to restore the degraded forest and environment. Ghana, on the other hand, chose June 11 to coincide with the rainy season to adequately support the survival of the plants.
Muni Pomadze Ramsar site is one of the five coastal wetlands or Ramsar sites in Ghana chosen by the government for extra special protection.
The Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences Education, Prof. Lucy Effeh Attom, underscored the human need for trees such as shade, medicine, wood for construction among others, adding that there is the need to preserve and to add value to lands and the environment.
“If we take tree planning seriously, I hope we would have a green environment that will help us to live long on this earth. I will also be happy if we get species or types of trees that have a lot of benefits. Students on campus need trees. We can easily have a shade under these trees with chairs to complement the summer huts and for us to benefit from the oxygen that we get from trees while we also give off carbon dioxide for the growth of the trees.
“So, I think it’s important that we pay particular attention when it comes to our environment. There is a need for us to plant more trees on our campuses so that we will always have that serene environment for academic work. When there are more trees, we will not have air pollution; we will always have proper air for survival,” she indicated.
Prof. Lucy Attom entreated opinion leaders to ensure that tree planting becomes a regular activity of the nation and not to wait for a particular day to plant trees because human survival to a large extent depends on trees. “There is this exchange that we have between humans and trees. So, I think it should be an everyday exercise that shouldn’t end only with the planting but with well-coordinated activities to ensure that the trees we plant survive.”
The Head, Department of Geography Education, Dr. Enoch Sam, on his part, said that “as geographers and as a Department we are so much interested in anything in the environment. The subject matter of Geography is one of man interacting with his environment and we are looking at the interrelationship between man and the environment. Basically, we are here and we have joined with the Municipal Forestry Commission to celebrate this day because we believe in the environment and what the environment can do for us.”
A lecturer in the Department of Geography Education, Dr. Yaw Asamoah, in an interview, disclosed that geographers interact with nature and so where there is no nature, there is no existence. He added that “I have since 2018 always proposed that we set aside even the path facing the Faculty to plant trees around the area and have lovers benches around for students to also enjoy the ambience.
“I wrote a paper on green spaces and I know from the literature how green spaces trees inclusive can ensure effective learning. So, what I am looking out for in the future is that we will have trees, green spaces all over this place for us to be able to get the necessary benefit.
“Sometimes you see students walking from the Faculty to the Jophus Anamuah-Mensah (JAM) Conference Centre and it’s sunny throughout. We don’t have avenue trees around. So, it is my desire and vision that within the next ten years we will have avenue trees right from the Faculty to the JAM and even from JAM to the Simpa area so that at least students will walk around and not be beaten by ‘the sun like that’. So, I am looking for a greener future on campus.”
Also present to make the tree planting exercise successful were the Paramount Chief of Effutu Traditional Council, Neenyi Ghartey VII; Commander of Winneba Police Service, DCoP Asiedu Okanta; Municipal Chief Executive, Effutu, Hon. John B. Ninson and Staff of Effutu Municipal Assembly, Ghana Police Service, Winneba Municipal Forestry Commission and Geography students of the University of Education, Winneba.
