A former Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, disclosed that illegal mining activities, commonly known as "galamsey," continue to pose significant threats to Ghana's forest reserves.
Making his submissions on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday 18th March 2025, Mr. Abu Jinapor noted that, as the incumbent government seeks to combat the illegal mining activities in forest reserves, some unscrupulous political actors are perpetuating the heinous activities in forest reserves, posing a significant threat to the forest fauna and flora.
Recent reports indicate that out of Ghana’s 288 forest reserves, 44 are currently under siege by activities of illegal miners, destroying over 5,000 hectares of forest land.
Addressing the speaker during parliamentary proceedings on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, Mr. Jinapor said, “Mr. Speaker, as we speak today, mining is happening in almost all the forest reserves in our country today. The coalition against galamsey led by the venerable respected Ken Ashigbey has come out with a report about how political kingpins believe that their political party has won power taking over the forest reserves of our country.”
Abu Jinapor noted that the President, John Dramani Mahama has all the discretional power to issue mining licenses for mining to take place in forest reserves, hence, there is a need to implement statutory interventions to control the invasion of illegal miners into forest reserves.
The new Mahama administration has intensified efforts to combat this environmental menace. A collaborative operation between the Rapid Response Unit of the Forestry Commission and the Ghana Armed Forces recently led to the seizure of 10 excavators, and a bulldozer, leading to the arrest of four individuals involved in illegal mining within the Tano Anwia Forest Reserve in the Western North Region.
However, the menace seems to be taking a spiral rise, raising concerns about how the government is strategising to bring the activities to a halt.
There have been calls for the government to revoke the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2462), which permits mining in certain forest reserves.
