PRESS STATEMENT: Mining In Forest Reserves: It Is Time to Break Through the Silence
Certain developments in the forest and mining sector have recently come to light that all Ghanaians – especially communities around the Forest Reserves – need to be aware of and the potential impacts on their lands and forests.
In November 2022, a new Legal Instrument L.I. 2462 ‘Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations’ was quietly passed. Civil society only became aware of this clandestine action by the EPA and government in March 2023.
Under the Right to Information Act, concerned civil society organisations have sent requests to relevant public institutions for information on the process that led to L.I.2462, but responses have been either limited or absent. Ghanaians, especially the rural communities, need to know what this L.I. entails and how it may affect them.