The Forestry Commission has Reschedule the celebration of International Day of Forests over coronavirus outbreak.
International Day of Forests is observed on March 21 every year but Ghana’s celebration is expected to be observed from May 11 – 15, 2020.
On the theme “Protect Forests and Biodiversity for Human Survival.”
It is a day set aside by the United Nations (UN) to raise awareness on the importance of all types of forest and trees outside forest zones.
The forestry sector of Ghana accounted for 4.2 percent of GDP in 1990; timber was the country’s third-largest foreign exchange earner.
Since 1983 forestry has benefited from more than US$120 million in investments and has undergone substantial changes, resulting in doubled earnings between 1985 and 1990. In 1993 timber and wood product earnings totaled US$140 million against a targeted level of US$130 million. Between January and November 1994, exports amounted to 919,000 tons and earned US$212 million.
Until the 1980s, forestry production suffered because of the overvalued cedi and deterioration of the transportation infrastructure. Log production declined by 66 percent during 1970- 81 and sawed timber by 47 percent.
Exports fell from US$130 million in 1973 to US$15 million in 1983, and four nationalized firms went bankrupt during that period.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Kofi Atakora
