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The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources has declared war on illegal logging in the country's forests, even as Ghana is on the verge of becoming the first country in Africa to export timber on the European market.
Asumah Kyeremeh said the ban was intended to help regulate the activities of sawmills and to protect and preserve forests.
He added that special attention is given to trees clbadified as endangered species with the long-term goal of promoting sustainable logging in the country.
Mr. Kyeremeh said this during his visit to the Kumsimoa Bepo Shelter Belt Forest Reserve, in a small community of Bokor in New Edubiase, in the Asanti region.
Some environmentalists and civil society groups have expressed concern when a Forestry Commission official said the law allows miners to carry out their activities even in forest reserves.
They argue that this runs counter to Ghana's green agenda.
At a joint press conference of Minister and Head of Delegation of the European Union in Ghana, Diana Acconcia, in Kumasi on Wednesday, Mr Kyeremeh defended the position of the Forestry Commission to say " that it is not illegal to operate in a forest reserve ".
According to the minister, the law requires mining companies to do what he calls "sustainable mining" by recovering land after exploitation.
"You do not expect to do open-pit mining and expect the trees in the forest to stay up, you clean them," said the minister.
The government has put in place the wood traceability system to keep track of the harvest and export of each tree felled and transported from the forest belt to promote sustainable logging.
The Minister has tasked the Forestry Commission to replicate successes in the Kumsimoa Forest Reserve in other regions to help maintain the surviving belts.
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