Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful is advocating for the use of digital platforms for communication and information sharing to reduce the use of paper.

This she thinks will help protect the forest cover and other trees that are being planted as part of the “green Ghana initiative”

Leading the staff of the Ministry to plant some trees around it’s building as part of the initiative by the Ministry for Lands and Natural Resources, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful urged Ghanaians to decrease the paper usage in the workplaces and homes to reduce the number of trees to be cut for paper production.

“We can also help protect the tree cover by reducing the amount of paper that we use and moving towards more digital ways of communicating. Because you cut down about 24 trees to create one sheet of paper….just think about that! So if we continue to use paper in the volumes that we are currently using, we will be defeating the purpose of the tree planting that we are doing today. So let’s all resolve to use less paper in our workplaces and our homes as well, and protect our forest and the volume of trees that need to be cut down to produce the paper that we use.”

 “There is also a reduction in the amount of paper that is physically used in writing the copious letters that we write. So if we all act together, we will be working together to protect our environment. Through digital payment platforms, bank cheques have been faded gradually and we hope that many people will appreciate the use of technology in their day to day lives” she noted.

The Green Ghana Project is an initiative of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, which seeks to plant and nurture to maturity five million trees in a day with the aim of restoring the forest cover of Ghana.

It is expected to become an annual event and aims to reverse the process of deforestation. The exercise took place across the 16 regions of the Country.

The Minister underscored the need for every Ghanaian to plant a tree to save the human species. “Through human activity, we have destroyed a lot of our vegetative cover in our country. Now we can be part of the solution”.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful charged German Indian Kofi Annan Center for Excellence (GI-KACE) to develop an application to help the health and growth of the tree so we can use digital technology to assist this effort adding, it is incumbent on all of us to nature the trees that have been planted.

“With the application of a little manure and regular watering, the plants will do well no matter where they are planted, and out of that, we can continue to enjoy the benefit”, the Minister added.

She called on all Ghanaians to separate the rubbish produced in homes (paper, metal, glass, organic). “The organic part can be used to produce manure to feed the trees that we are planting”.

The Minister also called for the legalisation of laws protecting trees in the country to ensure that the trees being planted today are not cut down callously tomorrow.