Christian organisation A Rocha is leading the environmental protests in Ghana against a new law which permits increased mining in the country.
Those protests included several days of peaceful demonstrations calling for the law’s repeal. Many Ghanaians took to the streets holding signs saying ‘No mining in forest reserves’.
As COP28 was beginning, Daryl Bosu, A Rocha Ghana’s deputy national director, said the law ‘poses a significant threat to the hard-earned progress in Ghana’s sustainable forest management over the past decade. It introduces vulnerabilities and undermines the country’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions’.
Ghana’s Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, countered that the intention of the law had been misinterpreted by environmentalist organisations, and mining in a forest reserve remains difficult. But A Rocha insisted ‘it is abundantly clear that no forest reserve in our country will be spared from the destructive impacts of the government’s aggressive mining agenda, made easier by this legislation’.
Bosu added several other reasons why the new law represents a backward step in forest protection. Firstly, the permitted areas of mining in forest reserves was a maximum of 2% in 2018, whereas there are no size restrictions under the new law. Secondly, the President may approve new mines even in the so called ‘prohibited areas’ if he considers it ‘in the national interest’. Thirdly, ‘there does not appear to be any firm requirement for forest restoration’. And finally, Bosu warned that ‘mining goes against other critical needs of the economy and displaces land uses such as water provisioning, habitat for biodiversity, which is responsible for climate mitigation and adaptation, wellbeing, health and food security’.
