It said the felling of trees in cities for construction works such as roads and real estate without replanting exposed cities to environmental hazards, including flooding, air pollution and storms.

“Because of development projects, trees are cut down any how and the areas left bare. There is the need to control such developments and ensure that trees felled are planted back. What we do now is just replace the trees with pavements.

“In our construction designs, there should be a conscious effort to create room for trees because they are able to take up the running water and ultimately reduce floods,” the Executive Director of the GIF, Mr John C.K. Amuzu, said at a press conference in Accra.

Perennial flooding in Accra has a long history and is a major headache for city authorities. In June 2015, a flood, combined with an explosion at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, killed more than 150 people.

Challenges

The press conference was to congratulate and welcome the new Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr John Peter Amewu, as well as draw the attention of the government to factors that contribute to dwindling forestry resources.

The factors include climate change, encroachment on forest reserves for farming, illegal mining and unsustainable charcoal production.

The institute called on the new minister to liaise with other ministries whose sectors affected the built environment —  Environment, Science and Technology and Roads and Highways — to deal with the situation.

Law enforcement

Mr Amuzu appealed to the minister to push the enforcement of the law on timber resources allocation — the Timber Resources Management Act, 1998 (Act 547).

The law makes it mandatory for anyone involved in forestry to engage the services of a professional forester certified by the GIF, as prescribed by the Professional Bodies Registration Decree 1973 (National Redemption Council Decree 143).

According to Mr Amuzu, the lack of enforcement meant that people without the required certification were working in the industry but they “do not understand what forestry is about”.

New chief executive

On the appointment of a new chief executive for the Forestry Commission, the institute urged the minister to consider appointing an experienced and reputed member of the institute in good standing.

That, Mr Amuzu said, was imperative to ensure professionalism and continuity in the execution of a number of international forestry projects, including the Voluntary Partnership Agreement, the Forest Investment Programme and REDD+, which aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries.