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Environmental organizations have once again called on the government to stop all mining and prospecting activities in the Atiwa Forest Reserve because of its terrible impact on the country.
Environmental advocacy groups said the Atiwa forest provided a variety of ecosystem services and other benefits that outweighed the financial gains that the country could derive from the extraction of bauxite in the forest.
Wednesday's environmental groups were led by ARocha Ghana, the Wildlife Society of Ghana, Rainforest Trust, Friends of the Earth Ghana, the International Committee of the Netherlands and Advocates for Biodiversity Conservation.
They urged the government and the China Development Bank to explore other ways in which the Atewa forest would generate additional financial resources for the state and also support the development of local communities while preserving the ecological integrity of the forest.
The Atiwa Forest, located in the Eastern Region and among the 260 forest reserves of the country, is one of the largest remaining tropical forest blocks and one of the healthiest and most biodiverse ecosystems. important of West Africa.
It is recognized nationally as an important reserve, providing a variety of ecosystem services, and is also home to major rivers such as the Weija, Densu, Birim and Ayensu Rivers, which serve most communities with clean drinking water. .
Professor Alfred Oteng Yeboah, former Chair of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, reiterated the need for the Government to reconsider its decision .
He said this at the opening of a two-day exhibition devoted to the rich biodiversity of Atiwa Forest.
Giving a personal account of the impact of the forest on his life and profession, he said: "I was inspired by the beauty of the Atewa landscape, always cloud-covered, which makes it the last element of the evergreen forests and cloud forests in Ghana ".
He wondered why a valuable, unique and priceless site, such as Atewa, would be destroyed and that would explain the endemic animals and plants, many of which still need to be discovered and named scientifically.
"Who will follow the removal of rocks prior to our present age, mark them and study them to account for their history? Who will oversee the removal and transport of excavated soil from the mountain and will ensure that these are only deposits of bauxite that are removed but not diamonds and gold? he questioned.
"I am aware of the work done on badessing Atewa's ecosystem in terms of its contribution to human well-being, which far exceeds any destructive and unsustainable economic enterprise that would imply the removal of the mountain.
"This is where the precautionary principle in Agenda 21, forerunner of the current World Agenda 2030 and the African Union 2063, should be invoked."
Mr. Stephen Appiah Kubi, National Director of ARocha Ghana, said that Atiwa hosts a long list of endangered flora and fauna species, as well as a watershed for three rivers and rivers. several tributaries.
Remains of evergreen upland forest in Upper Guinea's forest region, he said the Atiwa were part of the remaining five percent of the forest remaining.
"We are aware of the need for economic development in our country, but we are also aware that the preservation of important critical ecosystems is in general an essential element of the sustainable development of any country."
The different organizations, he said, were proposing to the government to turn the Atiwa forest into a national park with a buffer zone of support.
Mr Eric Lartey, National Director of the Ghana Wildlife Society, said scientific studies have shown that the Forest Reserve was breeding globally important bird species and called for its protection.
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