Ghana hits 30 million seedling target, marks tree for life success
Ghana has met one of its most visible environmental commitments, with Lands Minister Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah announcing on the International Day of Forests that the government’s 2025 Tree for Life Initiative has resulted in the planting of more than 30 million seedlings, matching the programme’s ambitious target and, more significantly, doing so through the collective effort of thousands of ordinary Ghanaians.
Speaking at the Achimota Forest in Accra on Thursday, March 19, the Minister used the occasion to reframe what tree-planting means for Ghana, positioning it not as an environmental gesture but as an economic strategy, a job creation instrument, and a platform for attracting the kind of green investment that can reshape the country’s development trajectory.
“Against a target of 30 million seedlings, we successfully distributed and planted over 30 million seedlings,” he announced. “More importantly, this was a people-powered achievement that created over 41,000 green jobs.”
The human dimension of the programme is perhaps its most striking feature. More than 2,000 youth forest champions, over 20,000 farmers, and thousands of nursery workers and private sector participants drove the initiative from the ground up, a scale of community participation that the Minister was eager to acknowledge and celebrate.
“We salute our over 2,000 youth forest champions, more than 20,000 farmers, and thousands in nurseries and the private sector who made this possible,” he said.
The Tree for Life Initiative, launched last year by President John Mahama in Nkawie in the Ashanti Region, is designed as Ghana’s local response to a global shift in how forests are understood, not merely as ecological assets to be conserved, but as economic engines to be strategically developed. The Minister articulated that vision with clarity, drawing a direct line between forest restoration and national prosperity.
“By restoring our degraded lands, we are creating a green asset base that can generate carbon credits, attract green investment, and create high-value jobs,” he explained, pointing to timber exports that already earn approximately 100 million euros annually and local consumption of wildlife and forest products valued at over $250 million.
His remarks were sharpened by fresh perspective from the recent UN climate conference, COP30, held in Belém, Brazil, where he led Ghana’s delegation. The global conversation there, he said, has decisively shifted from aspiration to accountability.
“At COP, the conversation shifted decisively. The global community reached a consensus that the era of mere promises is over. The era of performance has begun,” he said, language that applied as much to Ghana’s domestic commitments as to the international stage.
The emergence of carbon credit markets adds a new financial dimension to the case for protecting Ghana’s forests. A standing, thriving tree, the Minister argued, is no longer just an ecological asset, it is a financial one, representing a payment for vital global services rather than a charitable concession to environmentalism.
“We are witnessing a new economic reality where a standing, thriving tree is not just an ecological asset, but a financial one. These are not handouts, but payments for vital global services,” he said.
Looking ahead to 2026, the government has set its sights at the same level, another 30 million seedlings, but the Minister was firm that planting alone is not enough. The real challenge is keeping what has been planted alive against the threats of bushfires, illegal logging, and illegal mining, with forestry guards working alongside security services to protect the country’s growing green investment.
“We must do more than plant. We must nurture, because a seedling is a promise and a mature tree is a legacy,” he said, capturing in a single sentence the distance between an environmental gesture and a generational commitment.
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