Executive director of Nature and Development Foundation, Dr Mustapha Seidu, has called on government to reconsider its law on granting prospectus to companies to mine in forest reserves.
According to him, there are enough lands outside forest reserves government can focus mining activities on.
To this, he noted that it is very challenging to comprehend that few areas that are reserved for forest reserves to ensure the protection of waterbodies and provision of “climate for cocoa” are given out for mining.
“We already have enough on our hands with respect to illegal mining in forest reserves. For government to add to this problem by opening up forest reserves for mining is unfortunate to say the least. For me, and what we are asking for as civil society organizations is for government to reconsider this law, amend it or repeal it totally…”
Dr Mustapha Seidu
Reacting to the Mineral Commission’s rejection of application from High Street Ghana Limited for a mining license within the Kakum National Park, Dr Seidu expressed worry over the situation.
That notwithstanding, he stated that the application by the company is grounded in a new regulation that was passed in November last year called the Environmental Protection, Mining and Forest Reserve regulations, L.I (2462).
Dr Seidu noted that this allows mining in all forest reserves with few exceptions.
“So, it just tells you that all the forest reserves in this country, including the Kakum National Park can be put under mining. So, we are not surprised that a company has actually applied for that. The audacity or to even think about applying for a mining lease in the Kakum National Park is worrying.
“It just tells you that there’s no forest reserve in this country that is protected from mining. Every forest reserve is a candidate mining site under this new regulation.”
Dr Mustapha Seidu
Protection of forest reserves in the country
Commenting on the need to protect forest reserves, Dr Seidu emphasized the need for forest reserves to be glossed over in government’s bid to give out mining prospectus.
He emphasized that forest reserves need to be protected because there’s a reason for reserving them and government ought to protect and maintain them under perpetual forest cover.
“Indeed, if we open them for mining, we will have difficulty ever putting those areas back to forests. Once you open them up, you’re opening them up for the illegal guys to go in and they will ever remain…
“For me, if we were doing underground mining, that’s okay, but to do an open caste mining in forest reserves, they are never compatible with sustainable forest management and they cannot go together.”
Dr Mustapha Seidu
It will be recalled that on November 10, 2023, several civil society organizations (CSOs) in the country strongly opposed what they deemed as an attempt by mining firm High Street Ghana Limited to conduct mining activities in the Kakum National Park in the Central Region.
During a stakeholder engagement on the new Regulation on Mining in Ghana’s Forest Reserves (LI 2462) 2022, Mr Seidu, cautioned against the potential widespread destruction of the country’s forests if the Legislative Instrument (LI 2462) is not revoked.
Furthermore, Dr Seidu stated that the application was in the validation stage and, based on the provided concession map, would cover about 24% of the reserve.
However, following this, the Minerals Commission rejected an application from High Street Ghana Limited for a mining license within the Kakum National Park.
The Commission indicated that application from the mining firm received no consideration and was subsequently removed from the online mining cadastre. It further emphasized that the application by High Street Ghana Limited will not be processed.
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