He said the project, dubbed ‘Green Ghana’ will be commemorated each year.
The President said this when he planted the first tree to kick off the project in Accra.
He said "deforestation and forest degradation are the greatest challenges to sustainable forests management in Ghana” and such trends needed to be reversed immediately.
Nana Akufo-Addo said "Today's nationwide exercise will not be a one- off exercise, we intend to enhance ongoing afforestation programme, and see to the sustainable exploitation of our forest resources."
The Green Ghana programme, which commenced today [Friday, June 11, 2021] is aimed at planting at least five million trees across Ghana by the various government institutions and agencies as well as the citizenry.
The initiative is part of the government’s efforts to restore the country’s depleting forest cover as well as part of measures to mitigate the impact of climate change in the country.
President Akufo-Addo said the effects of deforestation and forest degradation "is severe climate change, which has dire consequences for our livelihoods."
For him, there is an urgent need to reverse the trend of forest deforestation and forest degradation to restore the country's forest resources.
He said there is no time to waste in restoring the country's forests, saying "we do not have tomorrow...we have to act now."