Reintroduce school farms and gardens (26/5/09)BP

THE Deputy Minister of Education, Mrs Elizabeth Amoah Tetteh, has called for the reintroduction of school farms and gardens to encourage the youth to participate in agriculture and greening the environment.
She said this would complement the government’s efforts at ensuring a sustainable environment as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Addressing the first national youth conference on biodiversity at the weekend, Mrs Amoah Tetteh said while the term biodiversity might not be well known or understood, the ecological services it provided were well known as they were vital to everyday lives of the people.
The conference, which brought together students from the junior and senior high school levels and other youth groups was to observe the International Day for Biological Diversity on the theme, “Invasive Alien Species”. It was used to launch a tree planting competition for schools in the country.
Mrs Amoah Tetteh said a report by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) released in 2005 indicated that human activities had taken the planet to the edge of a massive wave of species extinction that was a threat to human survival.
The Deputy Minister encouraged students and the youth to contribute their quota in the quest for reduction in biodiversity losses and commended Hero Productions for the initiative to get the youth involved in environmental issues.
A representative of the Forestry Commission, Mr Yaw Kwakye, said given the current rapid decline in biodiversity worldwide and the increasing extent, as well as the intensity of many human activities that generated negative impacts, the objective of halting the decline in biodiversity by 2010 would require extraordinary efforts.
He said prevention was the most cost-effective method against invasive alien species, adding that halting the establishment of potential invasive species was the first line of defence.
The Executive Director of Hero Productions, organisers of the programme, Mr Peter Paul Hammond, said the organisation sought to plant and nurture 50 million trees in the country in the next three years.
He said the tree planting competition among schools in the country was to enable the youth to contribute towards the achievement of MDG seven.