A Ghanaian Forest Research Scientist based in Germany is charging government to initiate his “School Forest” concept in all schools in Ghana. Dr. Sam Essiamah, who is the President of the German non-profit; School Forest for West Africa Association further suggests that the Ministry of Education should award schools that are environmentally conscious and give them incentives to inspire more schools to take up tree planting seriously.
Dr. Essiamah revealed to aptnewsghana.com that with four schools in 1994, the School Forest for West Africa Association and its local partner the Youth and Environment Club have initiated and maintaining school forests in some 75 schools predominantly in the Central Region of Ghana.
The German Based award winning scientist who in 2017 won the German Nature and Environmental Prize, spends his vacation in Ghana checking the progress of the school forests noted that “… to motivate the children, we brought in solar lamps so when a child plants 6 trees, catered for them for 6 months, we give the child a solar lamp. But before then we give the lamp for them to go and test for one week at home and after that the children plant the trees cater for them and then they get the free solar lamps. So, with this motivation we were able to plant ten thousand trees last year, with our 75 schools and the school children”.
Dr. Essiamah was thankful to various organisations who have supported his initiative so far. They are among others, School Forest for West Africa Association, Lower Saxony BINGO Environmental Foundation, ERPA GmbH, Villageboom GmbH and Senior Expert Services (SES) all in Germany as well as school children and numerous individuals in Germany.
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contacts:
Dr. Sam Essiamah – essiamah@schulwaelder.org
Henry Bondzie – ayerebibondzie@yahoo.com
By: Apt News Team
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