Responding to a special question in Parliament on February 23 on Ghana’s State Forest Reserve, the Honorable Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Jinapor gave a statement that appeared to be inconsistent with publicly available information.
A Rocha Ghana wants to highlight these inconsistencies and fill in some of the gaps to ensure Ghanaians have a clearer picture of the state of Ghana’s Forest Reserve. This action also became necessary because all efforts to get the audience to discuss the matter were futile.
Our concerns and observations are presented in accordance with the main sub-sections as defined in the Minister’s statement to the Honorable House.
Ecological Integrity of Ghana’s Reserve Forests
The Minister stated that the ecological integrity of Ghana’s Forest Reserve is largely maintained. This is a moot point. With the extensive destruction of galamsey, clear-cut logging and agriculture in some forest reserves that have not been restored, this statement is not clear. Forest Reserves such as Krokosua, Kali Sui, Tano Suraw Extension, Afao Hills, Upper Wassaw, Anhwiaso West and East, Supuma Shelterbelt, Tano Offin, and Denyau Shelterbelt all seem to lack ecological integrity due to extensive damage. Then, in mid-January, Denyau Site 1,2 and 3 forest site, Supoma Site 1 and 2, Ntakem 1 and 2, and forest reserve Numerse, Bepo Tintin, Kubi, Watreso, Adamso, Bunsu, Brechakrom, Amponuase, Apapraman. , Hiayeya, Pomposo are all reported to be live galamsey sites.
We urge the President and Minister of Lands to explain the meaning of “cordoned off all Forest Reserves” and get rid of illegal mining, the statement they keep repeating but the meaning is far from clear. From the inspection in the field, the Forestry Commission is still struggling every day to prevent illegal activities from the Forest Reserve, without any new logistical or operational support added to the existing set-up. What’s the difference now? Transparency in the state of Ghana’s Forest reserves is critical, especially as this will promote targeted restoration and reforestation actions.
Mining Forest Entry Permit in Reserve Forest
Forest Entry Permits have been issued for mining in the Forest Reserve and are all registered. However, this list is not exhaustive. Asante Gold announced on August 3, 2021 that the Government of Ghana has only granted Forest Entry Permits to the company for all forest areas in the Kubi mining lease.
In addition to being left off the list, it also appears that the Permit was granted after the President strictly banned new Forest Entry Permits for mining. When explaining the President’s ban, the Minister stated in April 2021 that “going forward, the Forestry Commission should not issue Forest Entry Permits for the purpose of mining in Reserve Forests.
The process is the final permit required in order to mine in the Forest Reserve which is the Forest Entry Permit. The President asked us to issue this instruction which says that no more Forest Entry Permits will be issued and since I was about two weeks ago there will be no new mining in the Reserve Forest … if you get a mining lease and you go to the Forestry Commission, the door is closed”. The Asante Gold permit came 4 months after this ban.
Koantwi Mining Company’s 2023 Mining Lease over a large part of the Anhwiaso East Forest Reserve is also at issue.
The statement of the Minerals Commission in 20225 shows that the 2020 Koantwi Forest Entry Permit registered by the Minister is for Mining Lease ML2/176 2020 in the southern part of the East Anhwiaso Reserve Forest. According to the MinCom repository, however, Koantwi Mining was recently granted a 30-year Mining Lease (ML-LAYER/222)7 covering a larger part of the Anhwiaso East Forest Reserve, effective February 7, 2023. Available information indicates that the application was made on December 12, 2022 .How did Koantwi get a Forest Entry Permit for this mining lease?
The Minister also did not mention the Mining Lease to the Unipower Mining Company that requires a Forest Entry Permit because it includes the southwestern part of the Boin Tano Reserve Forest (ML2/47), from May 19, 2022. There may be others as well.
River Bodies declared a Red Zone for mining
The Minister also reminded Parliament that the government has declared the river body as a red zone for mining, referring to the President’s April 2021 strict ban on mining in or near water as well as in Forest Reserves. Despite the ban, the Minerals Commission has granted several licenses in 2022 and 2023 that pass through critical water bodies, including in the exact location that has been destroyed by galamsey.
The rivers include Ankobra, Pra, Tano and Ofin, with licenses such as:
• ML-2/221 across the Ankobra River (Cape North Ltd; 17 Jan 2023 to 16 Jan 2053, application date 22 Sep 2022)
• ML2/47 along and across the Tano River, and enters the Boin Tano Forest Reserve (Unipower Mining Company Ltd, May 19, 2022 to May 18, 2032, application date August 26, 2019)
• ML2/46 together with River Pra (Unipower Mining Company Ltd, 19 May 2022 – 18 May 2032, application date 19 Feb 2022).
• SSMP/5/1760 across River Ofin (Open Job Mining, 6 Jul 2022 to 5 Jul 2027, application date 1 Jul 2020) • SSMP/6/2291 across River Ofin (Berksgold, 18 Jul 2022 to 17 Jul 2027, application date 3 April 2020)
• MC / SSMP / AR / 939 across the Ofin River (K Kukom Ventures, 8 Jul 2022 to 7 Jul 2027, application date 28 Dec 2021).
It is incomprehensible why the Minerals Commission issued licenses along the river and across the river when the damage of gold mining is now clear. That this license for the exact location has been decimated by galamsey is even more disturbing.
The community has suffered greatly due to the pollution of water sources and agricultural land, which has affected their health including kidney problems. The mining lease across the river and along the river is not in line with the directive of the RED ZONE President. Concerns were also raised that the Community Mining Scheme (CMS) is affecting the Presidential RED ZONE and community land. We urge MinCom to clearly identify in the mining repository a license and the location of the CMS (for example, a different code) so that the public and civil society can confirm the license in the situation where the galamsey operator claims to be part of the CMS.
Related topics: Mining and transparency
Another point we want to raise here is related to the MinCom mining repository. Regulation 1 of the Minerals and Mining (Licensing) Regulations 2012 (LI 2176) 8 identifies the maps required for use in the mining cadastre (or mining warehouse). It states that “the cadastral map must be on a scale of 1:50,000 based on the topographic map of the Republic of Ghana produced by the Survey and Mapping Division of the Land Commission, as well as on the Gauss and spheroid projections of the British War Office.” elevation for natural and artificial features.
The current map in the mining repository is not a topographical map. It shows water bodies, out-of-date names of areas, main cities and some roads but little else, making it very difficult for the community, traditional authorities and civil society to know where the mining license is.
This does not fulfill one of the main objectives of the Mining Cadastre Administration System (MCAS), which is to contribute to accountability and transparency and to give “civil society a better picture of the mining situation in the country”9. The original maps used were OpenStreetMaps which met the ‘topography’ requirement but were removed in 2022 removing a critical layer of transparency. For the sake of transparency for the affected communities as well as the supporting civil society, we request the MinCom to use the topographic map as required by the government’s LI 2176.
Lack of transparency also extends to exploration licenses. During the Africa Down Under 2022 Conference in Perth, Australia, the Honorable Minister of Lands stated that Ghana has about 500 mining exploration projects underway across the country and he expects an increase in the coming years.
At that time, there were only 201 prospecting licenses and 6 exploration licenses in the MinCom repository, many of which had expired, so where was the rest of the exploration and why was it not identified? For MinCom’s transparency purposes, this is very important. The government’s determination to encourage mining companies to go to Ghana and make the country a mining center in Africa is very troubling. Currently, the MinCom repository has 5,227 active applications, which cause serious problems regarding land use conflicts, and community rights. Ghanaians do not benefit from mining, especially communities that suffer from pollution and poor health. The cost and burden of environmental damage outweigh the limited benefits for Ghana, especially when the government offers so many incentives. It is past time for the government to look at green alternatives instead of always focusing on outdated extractives.
city tree
We also want to take the statement of the Minister of Lands during the press conference on February 28 when he mentioned the partnership between the Ministry and the Department of Parks and Parks, and City Roads to plant trees in addition to city roads. While this is a good initiative, the effort will be reduced if the road planners are imaginative and innovative.
There are decades-old trees still cut down in our cities just to make tarmac and other concrete. These trees serve many purposes including climate change mitigation, wildlife corridors, and shade for people. Carbon gains alone from old trees take decades to replace. There are many examples around the world where urban planners have imaginatively rerouted roads to avoid cutting down trees.
The area retains its beauty, and the city can boast of innovative and imaginative works. But there is nothing like that in Accra. Just more dead trees and more bare skylines. We encourage urban planners to use their imagination and innovation to work with nature, and this even reduces the cost and effort of the government.
We therefore call on the Ministry to ensure effective alignment of Ghana’s Green Agenda with Road and Town Planning as well as infrastructure construction projects and interventions. Therefore, we are very careful how Urban Roads and the Ministry of Land will work together to reimagine the ongoing road construction project to save the beautiful mahogany tree alley along the road from Transition to Kwabenya Roundabout on Atom – Kwabenya road.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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