Water Commission, schools plant trees on water day

Ben Ampomah, Ag Exe Sec., WRC (knees bent), plants a tree.

The Water Resources Commission (WRC) has provided tree seedlings to four basic schools in Accra, for nurturing to commemorate the 2013, World Water Day (WWD).

Accessories like black soil, watering cans and protective baskets were given to the pupils from South La, Osu Children’s Home, Osu Royal Preparatory and Airport Police A&B Basic Schools to aid them in nurturing the trees.

Presentation of the items took place in Accra recently and formed part of activities to mark WWD which took place globally on March 22.

The theme for the celebration was “International Year of Water Cooperation”, with an objective to create awareness on the potential for increased cooperation, on the challenges facing water management in the light of increasing demand for water access, allocation and services.

Under this tree planting initiative, the schools are competing to determine which school will best nurture the trees to maturity for a year upon which the outstanding institution will be awarded at next year’s WWD event.

In that vein, the Public Relations Officer of WRC, Adwoa Dako, indicated that the commission partnered with the Forestry Commission to select these schools because they do not have enough trees on their premises. “It is also to enhance tree coverage in such schools in order to protect their premises against erosion and to serve as wind breaks against rainstorms”.

On his part, the Acting Executive Secretary of the WRC, Ben Ampomah, noted that his outfit would soon roll out a program to plant trees along the buffer zones of river bodies to protect Ghana’s ecology and safeguard the environment.

He thus entreated the pupils and staff of the selected schools to do their best to nurture the trees presented to them and added that the exercise will be replicated in other parts of the country all year round.