Redeploy Military to support galamsey fight in forest reserves — Forestry Commission

The Forestry Commission has called for the immediate redeployment of the military to help halt illegal mining and other destructive activities in forest reserves across the country.

The commission said the withdrawal of the military from the fight against galamsey in forest reserves since 2022 had emboldened illegal miners to wreak havoc on forest reserves with impunity.

The Executive Director of the Forestry Services Division (FSD) of the commission, Hugh Brown, who made the call, said although the internal forest guards had done their best to protect the forest reserves from destruction by illegal miners and loggers, they were constrained by the superior weapons the perpetrators of the environmental crimes wielded.

"What we are doing is fighting organised crime against our environment and our very existence.

The statutory books makes it a crime to mine in forest reserves, and we do not have the support of the military who have been trained by the country to defend us by land, sea and the air; and this is serious," he told the Daily Graphic in an interview. 

Mr Brown added that the situation was dire because the illegal miners operated with sophisticated weapons, including AK 47 while forest guards used pump action gun.

"Anytime we send our men out, we cannot catch a nap until they are back because they are not prepared for the kind of combat that is required," he said. 

Arrests

Mr Brown revealed that from January to December, 2023, the Forestry Commission intensified its operations to weed out illegal miners from the various forest reserves.

He said within the one-year period, 218 persons involved in galamsey in forest reserves were arrested - some of them prosecuted while others were still standing trial by the courts.

Additionally, he said the forest guards demobilised 108 excavators, over 200 heavy duty generator sets used to power operations at galamsey sites and some vehicles.

"Most of the reserves have been saved by our operations and our guards are still monitoring the situation.

However, we still need the support of the military to successfully win the fight against galamsey. 

Fruitless petitions

Mr Brown said until November, 2022, there was a military deployment that was supporting the efforts to curb galamsey and other illegalities in forest reserves.

"But since November 1, 2022, that team has been withdrawn and we have not had them back.

 No letter was written to the Forestry Commission explaining why they were withdrawn, but we have been given a number of reasons, which I do not want to put out here’.

When asked if the Forestry Commission had officially informed the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and other mandated state agencies about the current situation, he said petitions had been made to the government on the matter but there had not been any positive feedback yet.

Mr Brown added that although there had not been any military support yet, the Forestry Commission would do its best to protect forest reserves to the best of its ability.

"We believe that we have only one country - Ghana, and as the institution that has been charged with the protection and sustainable management of the forest, we need to be supported to fulfil our constitutional mandate," he said.

Some stakeholder organisations in the forestry and environment space have been calling for an immediate review of the legislative instrument (L.I) on mining in forest reserves, Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulation 2022 (L.I 2462).

The stakeholders, including the Nature and Development Foundation (NDF), A Rocha Ghana, WACAM and Oxfam maintained that the current regulation was fraught with "sinful provisions" that made all forest reserves candidates for mining.

Mr Brown said the call for a review of the L.I was a step in the right direction, explaining that: “My personal view and that of the professional body I belong to, which is the Ghana Institute of Foresters, is that the L.I should be reviewed.

I believe that there is a sharp contrast between the intent or communication that was sent out earlier prior to the passage of that L.I and what came out,” he said.

For instance, he explained that the intention was to convert the existing guidelines on mining in production forest reserves into an L.I. but what came out was an L.I on mining in forest reserves, not production forest reserves. 

Reclamation

The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, Nyadia Sulemana Nelson, said the commission had started a pilot programme aimed at reclaiming forest reserves that had been destroyed by galamsey.

He said the commission’s focus for this year was to supervise the successful completion of reclamation and revegetation activities in mined-out sites within the Denyau Shelterbelt, Supuma and Afao Hills Forest reserves.

Mr Nelson said the reclamation exercise was crucial as it would help to restore degraded forest reserves and contribute to addressing the global climate crisis.