Students challenge mineral exploitation in Atewa Forest

The Coalition of Students in Conservation (COSIC) wants the government to reconsider all contractual agreements towards the exploitation of mineral resources in the Atewa Range Forest Reserve in the Eastern Region.

According to the group, the economic income from mining must be balanced with environmental and social concerns, hence the need for the country to pursue initiatives and investments that secure the ecological integrity of the forests.

“The aggressive pursuit of intensive mining as a means to accelerated economic growth is putting great pressure on two important upland forests – Atewa and Tano Offin Forest Reserves – which would be degraded and changed from their current land use status to mining concessions”, says Spokesperson, Daniel Kweitsu Obloni.

Government in 2011 granted several licenses to Vimetco Ghana (Bauxite) Limited to prospect for bauxite within Ghana’s Kibi and Nyianhin forest reserve deposits, which cover a concession area of 468.66 sq km.

Atewa has long been recognized as a nationally important reserve because its mountains contain the headwaters of three river systems – the Ayensu, Densu and Birim rivers – which serve as the source of domestic, agricultural and industrial water for communities in parts of Accra, Oda, Kade and Koforidua.

“The Densu River Basin has an area of 2,490km2 and spans 11 local government assemblies in the Central, Eastern and Greater Accra regions. There are about 200 settlements situated along the Basin with a total population of over 600,000, equivalent to 240 persons per km2 whose livelihoods depend directly or indirectly on the resource. Are we ready to import water into this country?” asked Daniel.

COSIC posits that it might be impossible for people to drink from rivers and water bodies with the resultant pollution from the mining operations. Other concerns include loss of biodiversity and damage to ecosystem functioning, loss of income from sustainable logging, change in tourism potential of the area and less absorption of Green House gases.

“We are all aware of chemicals that are used in mining, some of them are very toxic and as soon as it gets into the water, you know the amount of destruction that it will cause and so if someone is using this as potable water and it is destroyed then we have a long way to go”, said Chairman of the Coalition, Nathaniel Adjei-Gyasi.

The Coalition is of the view that the non-use values of the Reserve cannot be ignored with reference to Atewa’s relevance to Ghana’s quest to achieve sustainable development in ways that safeguard the environment whilst contributing to poverty reduction.

The students are convinced that “the threats posed by the proposed bauxite mining project to this important ecosystem will lead to irreversible changes in the ecological characteristics of the area”.