Mining in Atewa forest will affect 5M lives – Government told

November 25, 2020 Leave a comment

The International Conservation Organization has said in a statement that mining in the Atewa forest will affect 5million people.

According to the statement copied Radio 1 (100.7), they asked the government of Ghana to withdrawn Atewa Forest from bauxite mining plans and protect it as a National Park.

“The Atewa forest is one of the only two upland evergreen forest in Ghana…and home to an incredible diversity of wildlife species. This includes over 100 listed on the IUCN Red List a threatened, at least two being critically endangered, and several endemic,” part of the statement reads.

The statement added: “One of its key ecosystem services is to provide clean water daily for an estimated 5 million people both within the forest and downstream to Ghana’s capital Accra.”

However, speaking on Radio 1’s ‘Our Land Our Future’ program Environmentalist Okyere Boateng said Ghana will benefit more from reserving the forest than mining out the bauxite.

“We will benefit more if we keep the Atewa Forest, turning it into a national park will be one of the great benefits to the people living around and to Ghanaians as a whole,” he said.

Okyere Boateng added Eastern Region did not suffer most from the COVID-19 pandemic due to the fresh air we have in the region and the Atiwa Forest provides the most.

On May 30, 2020, the Government of Ghana began creating access roads into Atewa Forest Reserve in preparation for the bauxite mining.

A Rocha Ghana, Ghana Wildlife Society, and other CSOs are still fighting to save this unique forest.

You can help by signing the petition and spreading the word using #AtewaForest and #SaveAtewa4Water

Read International Conservation Organization statement below.