evidoria

← Back to browse

Good practice Imported

Green Ghana Day — Annual National Reforestation with Tracked Multi-Year Survival Rates

Ghana · Accra · See the Ghana profile · See the Accra profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 76% 33/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Ghana's annual Green Ghana Day has planted over 50 million tree seedlings since 2021 across forest reserves, farms, schools and public institutions. Government field assessments show survival rising from 67% (2021) to 81% (2023), though deforestation elsewhere continues.

50,000,000+ seedlings
Total seedlings planted since 2021 (2021-2024)
13,875,286 seedlings
Seedlings distributed in 2024 edition (2024)
67 %
Survival rate, 2021 cohort (2021)
72 %
Survival rate, 2022 cohort (2022)
81 %
Survival rate, 2023 cohort (2023)
73.3 %
Average survival rate, first three editions (2021-2023)
Green Ghana Day — Annual National Reforestation with Tracked Multi-Year Survival Rates

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Ghana Forestry Commission / Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources
Period
2021–present (annual, June)
Keywords
national reforestation, forestry, climate mitigation

Context

Launched in 2021 by Ghana's Forestry Commission and Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Green Ghana Day is a single annual planting day, held every June, in which government agencies, schools, businesses and volunteers plant seedlings nationwide across forest reserves, farms, degraded watersheds, school compounds and public land.

Activities

The 2024 edition distributed 13,875,286 seedlings, with roughly 60% earmarked for forest reserves, and between 2021 and 2024 the programme has planted over 50 million seedlings in total.

Results

Unlike a one-off publicity event, the Forestry Commission has published year-on-year field survival assessments: 67% of the 7 million trees planted in 2021 survived, 72% of 24 million planted in 2022 survived, and 81% of 10.7 million planted in 2023 survived, an average of 73.3% across roughly 42 million trees planted in the programme's first three editions, according to Lands and Natural Resources Minister Samuel Abu Jinapor.

Conclusions

An independent December 2025 review by The Business & Financial Times concluded that while visibility and survival rates have improved, Ghana continues to lose forest cover, including inside designated reserves, faster than the programme replaces it, driven by illegal mining, logging, agricultural expansion and fires, so climate benefits from the initiative are plausible but not yet proven at national scale.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — No consolidated national budget figure is published; the programme distributes seedlings nationally each June via government agencies, schools and volunteers.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Annual event since 2021, held every June, with cumulative results tracked across editions.
Staffing & skills
Ghana Forestry Commission field officers, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources coordination team, School, business and volunteer planting groups

Conditions for success

  • National mobilisation of government agencies, schools and businesses on a single annual day
  • A published year-on-year field survival assessment to track outcomes beyond planting counts

Common failure modes

  • An independent review found forest cover is still being lost faster than the programme replaces it, driven by illegal mining, logging, agricultural expansion and fires outside the programme's control
  • A single annual planting day depends on aftercare and follow-up maintenance to sustain the reported survival rates

Where it fits

Governance type
national government (Forestry Commission)
Scale
national
Income level
lower-middle-income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

Do you run this practice? Claim it — verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

Similar practices you may find useful