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World Environmental Day: …let’s support environmental restoration efforts
As the world marks Environmental Day today, June 5, 2021, we should focus our attention on some human activities that impact negatively on the environment and the need to reverse the trend and support initiatives meant to safeguard the vegetation.
This year’s celebration, themed ‘Ecosystem Restoration,’ would reinforce the essence of tree planting, cleaning up the environment, and preservation of water bodies, among other activities to help conserve the environment.
On Friday, June 11, the Green Ghana Initiative which would see to the planting of five million trees across the country would kick off. Its long term objective is to return the country’s landscape, which had been affected by illegal mining and lumbering and other human activities, to its past glory.
Apart from sanitation challenges the country is tackling, the impact of illegal lumber and indiscriminate felling of trees is rife in the Savannah Region, where there is an alarming rate of logging for charcoal production.
Some governmental and non-governmental organisations, in an attempt to halt the trend, had recommended a ban on commercial production of charcoal and suggested alternative sources of fuel for rural folks.
But it appears the practice would not stop anytime soon as economic trees such as shea and rosewood continue to be logged in large quantities for charcoal.
Trees and forests provide a myriad of ecological services such as water supply, maintaining soil fertility for purposes of agriculture, and serve also as habitat for animals and other living things.
It is for this reason that Mr. Yussif Abdul-Mumin, Chief Executive Officer of United Force for Development, a non-governmental organisation based in the Northern Region, has urged the citizens to “take deliberate steps to help heal the earth” on the occasion of World Environmental Day and beyond.
He agrees that the citizen’s effort towards environmental conservation through tree planting, especially in urban areas would, to a large extent, contribute to dealing with issues of climate change.
Pictures captured here by our photographer, Mr. Geoffrey Buta, stress the importance for all citizens to join global, regional and local environmental restoration efforts, to help prevent the loss of plant and animal species, enhance food and water supply, and help improve livelihoods.
By Geoffrey Buta
National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Executive Committee member and Volta River Authority (VRA) Board Member, Wonder Victor Kutor, has described calls for the resignation of Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa as premature and unjustified.
He argued that there was no evidence to establish that the minister had committed any wrongdoing to warrant such demands.
Speaking on Joy News in Accra on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, Mr Kutor questioned what had changed to justify the growing calls for the minister to step down.
He recalled that the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Abu Jinapor, had earlier indicated that the opposition was not accusing Mr Ablakwa of any wrongdoing.
Mr Kutor, therefore, challenged those demanding the minister’s resignation to provide fresh evidence to support their position.
“The call for the Minister to resign is premature, it is untenable. There is no evidence. I mean, what has he done wrong?” he questioned.
He added that documents, including boarding passes, airline receipts and flight manifests relating to the minister’s return journey, had been provided.
Mr Kutor expressed concern that the calls for Mr Ablakwa’s resignation could discourage young politicians from speaking out against corruption and advocating transparency.
According to him, politicians should not be targeted or maligned for demanding accountability, warning that such treatment could create the impression that speaking against corruption could later become a liability when one is appointed to public office.
He maintained that calling for accountability and transparency should not be used as grounds to target public officials without evidence of wrongdoing.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Ghana will host the Africa Festival of Arts, Culture and Creatives (AFESTAC) 2026 alongside Industrial Skills Week Africa (ISWA) 2026 in Accra from December 9 to 12, 2026.
On the back of these programmes, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, has called on corporate Ghana, the media and the general public to support the initiative through partnerships, sponsorships and active participation.
The events, supported by the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), will bring together stakeholders to celebrate Africa’s rich cultural heritage, strengthen the creative economy, promote industrial skills development and create employment opportunities for young people.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
