Mr Alvin Adu-Asare, a Senior Monitoring and Evaluation officer, Rainforest Alliance, has appealed to Ghanaians to support this year’s Green Ghana project to restore the forest cover.

He called on the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Forestry Commission to adopt methods that would help monitor trees planted and the number that would survive over the period.

Mr Adu-Asare made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after a stakeholders’ engagement at Wiawso in the Western North Region.

The engagement was to create a hybrid monitoring and evaluation programme that combined remote and on-the-ground data management and reporting at the landscape level and leveraging information and communication technologies to empower communities to own the exercise.

“Tree planting does not necessarily mean restoration so there is the need for a systematic approach to track and monitor trees planted,” he said.

He encouraged participants to use the platform with other stakeholders and institutions to achieve the desired results.

Mr Louis Agreey, the Wiawso Municipal Assembly Planning Officer, lauded Rainforest Alliance for empowering farmers in the area through alternative livelihood programmes.

He encouraged farmers to carry out more alternative livelihood programmes to complement cocoa production to reduce poverty in farming communities.

Mr Richard Adonu, the Project Lead, Olam Foods, on his part, advised farmers to register for more distinctive species.