“I’ll Not Grant Any Mining Company Access To Forest Reserves”– Inusah declares

Alhaji A.I. Fuseini

The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources Alhaji Abdulai Inusah Fuseini and Legislator for Tamale Central Constituency, has stated categorically that his ministry would not grant any mining company access to the country’s remaining forest reserves to exploit any underground natural resource.

According to him, the forest reserves had enormous potentials to promote eco-tourism if well developed, and emphasised that his ministry in partnership with the Tourism Ministry would develop some of those reserves to enable government generate enough income as well as create employment.   

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of an event to mark this year’s World Forest Day and second Forestry Commission Week Celebration in Tamale, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini said, “I’ll not grant any mining company access to forest reserves. My ministry will not do that and I will not support it either. These reserves will be developed to promote eco-tourism and also to enable government generate enough income and create employment for people”. 

Responding to a question on why Ghana was signatory to an International Biodiversity Convention yet there was persistent bush-burning and other negative environmental practices in most parts of the country, the minister gave the assurance that such practices would soon cease.

He disclosed that, a rapid response unit had been established and trained to understand the importance of forest and the natural environment and why it must be protected, adding that, they had been equipped to move about and arrest anyone or group of persons engaging in any form of environmental degradation and with the assistance of well trained lawyers and police on forestry matters, expeditiously prosecute such persons.

Alhaji Inusah Fuseini also stated that, since 2001 to date, attempts made by governments through ambitious National Forest Plantation Development drive to increase the tree cover had made significant impacts on the landscapes, citing that, between 2010 to 2012 an area of 7,384 hectares was planted with assorted tree species by the Forest Services Division of the Forestry Commission in the Northern Region of Ghana. 8,974 people, he said were drawn from communities and engaged as hired labour to achieve this target.

The mining companies reportedly pushing for what many describe as "a misguided and outright dangerous plan" to mine in forest reserves include mining giants such as Chirano Goldmines Limited, Satellite Goldfields Limited, Nevsun/AGC, Birim/AGC and Newmont Ghana Gold Limited. 

The forest reserves that the mining firms are drooling over include the Subri River Forest Reserve, a Globally Significant Bio-diversity Area which is also the largest forest reserve in the country and a critical watershed between major rivers such as the Bonsa and Pra. Others are the Supuma Shelterbelt, Opon Mansi in the Western Region, Tano Suraw and Suraw Extension also in the Western Region, Ajenjua Bepo in the Eastern Region, Cape Three Points reserve in the Western Region and the Atewa Range forest reserve near Kibi in the Eastern Region which is also believed to be the most mineralised reserve in the country. 

The Atewa forest reserve which protects the head waters of the Birim, Densu and Ayensu rivers had been declared by various local and international conservation groups as a Special Biological Protection area as well as a Globally Significant Bio-diversity area. Experts disclose that Atewa contains many plants species such as two unusual kinds of tree ferns which are found nowhere else on earth as well as six endemic butterfly species. 

According to environmentalists, the reserves provide sanctuary for a stunning array of species listed as internationally threatened with extinction and these include 34 plants species, 13 mammals, 8 birds and two reptiles. Several species of forest monkeys, frogs, lizards, snakes and over 700 types of trees could also be found in the reserves. 

Also, these forest and game reserves contribute significant amount of revenue every year towards the development of the country as an estimated US$250 million dollars were earned from the sale of game (bush meat) alone.

Report say at the dawn of Ghana’s Independence in 1957, the country had 1.8 million hectares of lush green forests draping parts of the country and nourishing the land and teeming wildlife. But the fabric is now in tatters, slashed by loggers, mining companies, clearance for agriculture and bush fires. Currently, only about 1.6 million hectares of forest are left and annual deforestation rate is 2 percent or 65,000 hectares and an annual degradation cost 10 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. Mining concessions according to another research, had taken over 70 percent of the total land area resulting in the destruction of large tracts of land and the scramble for farmlands. Consequently, food production had decreased considerably, creating the conditions for increased food prices. 

Meanwhile, this year’s World Forest Day which was under the theme: “Protecting The Forest; My Responsibility”, aimed at sensitising the public so as to enable them rethink their attitude towards nature and its surroundings and cultivate the habit of tree growing as well as put a stop to bush burning, illegal chainsaw operation, bad farming practices and among others.