By Paul Mamattah
As part of the nationwide celebration of World Environmental Day, the Ada West District office of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has undertaken a significant tree-planting exercise for selected schools in the district in celebration of the 2026 World Environmental Day.
The exercise, which was held on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, involved learners, teachers, and staff of the Ada West NCCE, who actively participated in planting trees at Zion Care International School, Glorious Hope Academy School, Sege Community Junior High School No. 2, and Sege Presby Basic School.
The initiative forms part of efforts by the Commission to promote environmental sustainability and create awareness about the urgent need to protect the environment against the effects of climate change while nurturing a culture of environmental responsibility among the younger generation.
Addressing the learners during the exercise, the Ada West District Director of the NCCE, Samuel Etsey, said the primary objective of the programme was to instil a culture of tree planting among young people.
“The primary essence of the activity we are doing today is to instil in the young ones or learners the culture of tree planting,” he stated.
Mr. Etsey noted that Ghana has developed a long-standing dependence on charcoal for domestic cooking and other household activities, a trend that continues to contribute to deforestation.
“We have grown in a system where the use of charcoal for domestic fires and cooking activities has become established, and for us to change the trend, we must adopt a new strategy,” he explained.
According to him, the strategy adopted by the NCCE is to “catch them young” by equipping learners with environmental governance knowledge to help shape environmentally responsible citizens.
He said the tree-planting exercise was guided by the philosophy that “when the last tree dies, the last man dies,” underscoring the importance of preserving the environment for future generations.
“The basic idea is to instil the tree planting exercise and maintenance in the young ones so that when they grow, they can sustain it for posterity,” Mr. Etsey added.
He indicated that the NCCE’s environmental education campaign specifically targets upper primary and junior high school learners because they are the nation’s future leaders.
“We believe that when they adopt these concepts, they can help maintain the environment better than we have done,” he said.
Mr. Etsey urged the learners to take environmental issues seriously, stressing that the future quality of their lives would largely depend on how responsive they are to environmental governance.
“The future that awaits them depends on their responsiveness to environmental governance. They should build a sustainable environment so that when they grow, the environment will be there to serve them better,” he advised.
He cautioned that failure to develop a culture of environmental responsibility today could have serious consequences in the future.
“If they lack that culture today, when they grow, they will not like what the environment will give them,” he warned.
World Environment Day is celebrated annually to encourage awareness and action for the protection of the environment. The Ada West NCCE’s initiative is expected to help nurture a generation of environmentally conscious citizens committed to sustainable practices.
