Head of corporate affairs and media relations at the Forestry Commission, Joyce Ofori Kwafo, has expressed the commitment of the Commission to bring sanity into the country’s forest reserves.
According to her, the Commission has for the longest time, remained resolute in the fight against illegal mining which has caused so much devastation in the country.
She revealed that the arrest of illegal operators in the country’s forest reserves is equally something that the Commission has been doing, insisting it’s not a new move.
“Forestry Commission is charged with the protection of the nation’s forest and wildlife resources and we’ve been doing it since the establishment of the Commission…We’ve been doing it over the years, and we will continue doing it till we bring sanity into our forest reserves.”
Joyce Ofori Kwafo
Commenting on the number of arrests made for the year 2023 for instance in the fight against illegal mining, Ms Kwafo stated that the Commission has carried out some 218 arrests of illegal operators. These operators, she noted, includes both illegal miners and illegal fellers.
“We’ve had 24 persons successfully prosecuted by the various courts. For the excavators, 106 have been demobilized, pumping machines, 326 demobilized… So, this is something we’ve been doing over the years and for this year, this is the data I have. We have a lot of cases pending, awaiting prosecution, and we know that as some have been done earlier, this one too will go through successfully.”
Joyce Ofori Kwafo
Tackling illegal mining across the country
Furthermore, Ms Kwafo noted that the commission is committed to addressing illegal mining on forest reserves in various communities across the country. She explained that her outfit is still undertaking awareness creation and sensitization on the need to protect the forest looking at the climate change.
“We are also doing the law enforcement, which is the arrest and prosecution of offenders. We are also looking at revamping our forests. So, we are looking at the various areas to make sure our forests become intact once more. We are not concentrating on a specific aspect, it’s a whole thing that we are tackling.”
Joyce Ofori Kwafo
Meanwhile, former AGI President, Dr Oteng Gyasi, has revealed that Ghana has imposed self-inflicted wound, especially in the area of harm done to its forest reserves. Citing research, he warns of a catastrophic future in the next three years.
“Even though one of the reasons give justifies the struggle in the then Gold Coast was mismanagement of our forest resources by foreigners, forest exploitation worsened in the post-colonial period. In plain English, we have done more damage to our forests than our colonial masters did. Why did we do this to ourselves?”
Dr Oteng Gyasi
Dr Gyasi stated that the land covered by modern day Ghana was made up of 70% forest. However, he noted that today, that figure has declined to less than 10%.
“Scholars estimate that by 2026, forests outside forest reserves would have been completely decimated. Even within forest reserves, it is estimated that half of such areas are seriously degraded or without any forest at all. The major cause of this destruction is the timber industry, another exploitative industry like mining.”
Dr Oteng Gyasi
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