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Ghana must take bold steps to recover her depleted forest cover to stabilize the deteriorating ecology towards sustaining biodiversity and natural resources in general.

Dr. Kofi Frimpong, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vision 2050 Forestry Ghana Limited, an environmental Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), who made the recommendation said Ghana’s forest cover, which stood close to about 8.5 million hectares some 60 years ago had consistently dwindled to less than 400, 000 hectares.

Dr. Frimpong, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Fumesua in the Ashanti Region, said this development had come with damning effects on the climate.

Illegal tree felling and mining, incoherent forestry management practices, improper farming practices and other unsupervised human activities have been cited for this development.

Dr. Frimpong said with more than 85 per cent of the forest depleted and considering the current annual rate of depletion, the nation risked losing some vital tree and animal species.

“This could affect the very survival of the people as the climate changes, and also comprehensive research work and efforts, based on the environment, could be impeded,” he said.

“Our rivers which play significant roles in hydro-power generation are being diverted and polluted because of small-scale mining, aquatic life is dying, our cherished forest reserves are being encroached and this must stop”.

The environmentalist said his organization had for some time now been at the forefront of a comprehensive project to restore the lost forest cover through tree-planting exercises, which had also come with economic benefits.

Established in 1988, Vision 2050 has so far made a strong presence in 850 communities where 150 million trees of different species have been planted through a network of 300, 000 farmers spread across the country.

Dr. Frimpong said it was the NGO’s mission to plant about one billion trees in the coming years to help recover 50 per cent of the nation’s lost forest cover.

He, therefore, asked the citizenry to rally behind them to achieve their objectives.