2024 Budget Statement Review
Ghana’s 2024 Budget: Big on Mining but Little for People and Nature
Making Ghana the ‘Mining Hub of Africa’ has been the government’s rallying call to countries and mining companies across the world to invest in Ghana’s lithium, bauxite, silica, iron, gold and more. The government’s 2024 budget is clearly pushing this agenda too. It is a budget for mining, while benefits and safeguards for people and nature are relegated to the background. Government statements on the critical role of forests in Ghana’s socio-economic development and climate adaptation abound alongside stated commitments for their protection. At the same time, budget allocations for government’s extractive focused corporations/commissions have increased significantly while those for forest restoration and afforestation, Green Ghana Day, tree crops development, and anti-galamsey have been either slashed or completely axed.
During the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP28 in December 2023, Ghana’s President launched the ‘Resilient Ghana’ vision that seeks to advance ‘nature-based industrialisation’, an apparently new term that could conveniently cover government’s exploitation of nature for its mining agenda. During COP28, government claimed it is recognised as a world leader for its “bold ambition on forests, climate, and nature… and a trailblazer on carbon markets” and that “it has also made ambitious commitments to halt deforestation and restore 2 million hectares of degraded land by 2030”. As the following budget review shows, however, there is no evidence of government having any ‘bold ambition’ on forests, climate or nature. Government’s budget commitments that could contribute to ending deforestation and restoring degraded lands have dwindled significantly, while those to promote mining – reinforced by the new L.I. 2462 Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) – are facilitating mining expansion including in forest reserves and other protected areas. Meanwhile, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources has been quoted as saying,
“Ghana is committed to the global efforts to preserve and protect the natural forest cover, and we shall spare no effort and resources in achieving this goal”.
There is no evidence for this. The inconsistencies between talk and action have become even starker throughout 2023.