The Bono regional branch of ActionAid’s youth advocacy group, Activista Ghana, has cautioned farmers in the Tain and Banda Districts of the Bono region to desist from activities that could spark fire outbreaks during this dry season.

According to them, bushfire outbreaks might retard the gains made so far with the national tree planting exercise initiated by the government.

“If it becomes very necessary to burn your farmland, the best thing to do is to get the assistance of National Fire Service officers or community fire volunteers so that we can all avoid bushfire disasters during the dry season,” the National Organiser of Activista, Shadrack Adjei, urged.

He spoke with JoyNews on the sidelines of the launch of their “Let’s go green” project at Yabroso in the Tain District of the Bono region.

The “Let’s go green” project aims to plant more trees in communities and educate rural folks in the region on the negative impacts of climate change.

The National Organiser of Activista stated climate change is gradually devastating many communities across Ghana hence the need to mitigate the effects.  

“Looking at the climate change, it is affecting more, so we will not rest until we see that this climate change campaign is improving or we are getting a result from it.

Within the next 10 years, Activista believes the whole of Tain and Ghana will be green through the various campaigns,” he added. 

The Tain District Coordinating Director, Kumi Acheaw, said it is important to encourage people to help sustain the government’s greening Ghana campaign to reduce the adverse effects of climate change.

“It is for this reason that the Tain District Assembly is partnering with ActionAid and Activista to get the citizenry vigorously interested in planting and nurturing more trees across the district.

We also want to advise people, especially hunters, against indiscriminate bush burning that could cause fire outbreaks and destroy the very vegetation we are struggling to grow,” Mr Acheaw indicated.  

He further added, “it is our fervent hope that this dry season will record fewer bushfire outbreaks as compared to the previous devastating years.

For his part, the Bono regional Programme Manager of ActionAid Ghana, Yaw Osei Boateng, emphasised ActionAid’s commitment to achieving climate justice in Ghana.

“In order to attain climate justice, one of the key things we are doing is to promote tree planting throughout the communities that we work with,” he said.