Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has announced that an agreement has been reached with King Charles III to reclaim lands in Ghana that have been destroyed by the activities of illegal miners.
According to the Asantehene, a conversation on Ghana’s destroyed lands surfaced while in a meeting with King Charles III whose coronation he had attended.
He noted that since the British monarch’s objectives includes preserving the forest reserves and the environment, he quickly jumped on board.
“As you know, a couple of days ago I returned from London, where I attended the coronation of King Charles III whose number one legacy, perhaps is his commitment to afforestation , reforestation and the fight against climate change.
Interestingly, my discussions with him were on land reclamation in Ghana and we had some private discussions that he has accepted to collaborate with me for us to do that,” he said.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II made this revelation known while speaking at the launch of the Green Ghana Day held at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi on May 17.
Technical teams on environment in the United Kingdom and Ghana are expected to hold a series of meetings on the matter, the Asantehene said.
This would see to the formulation of policies on ways to reclaim the lands.
Before the government’s agenda to plant trees in a bid to restore Ghana’s endangered lands and forest reserves, the Asantehene has committed to planting trees within the Ashanti region.
He reiterated his efforts to ensuring Ghana’s vegetation is protected at the launch. He called some initiatives done in the past.
According to him, 2.5 million trees were planted on a 4,000 hectare land in 2019 towards the protection of the Lake Bosomtwe.
Reiterating his commitment to tree planting and knowing the importance of trees, the overlord of Asante kingdom indicated that he has a teak plantation of about 640 acres in Kumawu.
“I am collaborating with the Forestry Commission to plant more trees in various compartments I have in the region,” he said.
The Ashanti region, despite planting over 7 million trees – highest of all regions – since the inception of the Green Ghana Day – is heavily riddled with illegal small-scale mining.
The Nkawie Forestry district in the Ashanti region is reported to have planted the highest number of seedlings on the 2022 edition of Green Ghana Day.
On his part, Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, John Allotey indicated that 81% and 72% of trees planted in 2021 and 2022 respectively survived.
He says more local trees were planted during the last edition.
“One unique feature of the 2022 edition of Green Ghana was that 35% of the seedlings were planted in Ghana’s forest reserves. A deliberate effort was made to plant more indigenous species. This help increase the percentage of economic timber species planted over the two years to 75%,” he said.