Environmentalist: Reconsider your choice to harvest bauxite in the Atewa forest.
The government’s intention to extract bauxite in the Atewa forest is being resisted by the group’s founder and organizer.
According to Awulah Serwah, the mining process would have numerous negative repercussions on the species of things that live in the neighborhood throughout time.
As a result, she suggested that the government work to preserve the many forest reserves that already exist across the nation rather than destroying them.
She made this comment on Sunday during a segment of The Probe where the topic of preserving the Atewa Forest was discussed.
“Let’s safeguard our current forest. Reverse the declassification of the Accra-owned Achimota Forest, and for the love of God, drop plans to mining bauxite in the Atewa Forest Reserve.
Since this will jeopardize the species of plants and animals as well as pollute the supply of water for more than 5 million Ghanaians, according to Awulah Serwah.
“Let’s safeguard our current forest. Reverse the declassification of the Accra-owned Achimota Forest, and for the love of God, drop plans to mining bauxite in the Atewa Forest Reserve.
Since this will jeopardize the species of plants and animals as well as pollute the supply of water for more than 5 million Ghanaians, according to Awulah Serwah.
“We think responsible mining is both possible and necessary. The government will always take action to protect our environment through its regulatory agencies.
I will once again state that measures will be made to guarantee that all mining operations are conducted responsibly and in conformity with our regulations.
The Ghana Integrated Aluminum Industry Corporation (GIADEC) and Rocksure International, its strategic partner for the Nyinahini Mine, also signed an MoU during the occasion.
The government’s plan to grow the bauxite business, according to GIADEC CEO Michael Ansah, is now a reality.
According to him, the Ghana Bauxite Company now produces 1 million tons of aluminum annually, but GIADEC wants to increase this.
In order to do this, Lands Minister Samuel Jinapor said in an interview with Aljazeera that “Government and GIADEC continue to be totally dedicated to the preservation of the Atewa Forest.
Government officials will “guarantee that the Atewa bauxite exploitation is in the ultimate benefit of the Ghanaian people and is in the public interest,” he continued. Also, they are attempting to maintain the forest’s integrity.
The government is taking steps, said Mr. Jinapor, “to ensure that in particular, bauxite and iron ore are built with the full value chain retained here in Ghana. We have established bureaucracies here like the GIADEC and GISDEC which will be in charge of building the full value chain of this bauxite and iron ore.”
Nevertheless, the National Director of A Rocha Ghana said that GIADEC had destroyed a portion of the Atewa Forest through exploratory bauxite mining in his testimony during a case filed with 10 orders attempting to prevent the government from conducting any sort of mining activity in the forest.
According to Dr. Seth Appiah-Kubi, the exploratory mining was illegal.
He informed the court. The Atewa forest was one of three places that GIADEC proposed to do bauxite mining; this was previously made public.
“They (GIADEC) went ahead and ordered a reconnaissance and exploration operation in the forest, carried out without following the proper legal procedures, destroying a portion of the forest, and these activities are the precursors to the actual mining,” he claimed.
Also opposed to the government’s choice to mine in the forest was Madam Awulah.
Since then, she has pleaded with the government to abandon its plans to mine in the forest reserve.
“Let’s protect our forest; there’s no point in planting 20 million trees but destroying the forest that you already have,” the coordinator for environmentally aware individuals continued.