A Rocha Ghana calls on Mahama to revoke EI 144 as Achimota Forest threats resurface

Environmental advocacy group A Rocha Ghana has renewed calls on President John Dramani Mahama to urgently revoke Executive Instrument 144 (E.I. 144), warning that the Achimota Forest Reserve is once again under threat of declassification and potential development.

In a message addressed to the president, the organisation cautioned that recent developments point to renewed efforts by some entities to rely on E.I. 144 as the legal basis for stripping portions of the Achimota Forest of their protected status, thereby opening the area to grey infrastructure development.

Deputy Director of A Rocha Ghana Daryl Bosu said the group has received credible information indicating that processes are being advanced to declassify parts of the forest, despite earlier assurances from government that the reserve would be preserved.

According to him, such actions contradict public commitments made to safeguard the Achimota Forest, which remains the only designated forest reserve within the Accra metropolis.

“Your government promised to protect the Achimota. This is the time to act, to save the forest. The entities of destruction are in motion, and action must be urgent and swift,” Bosu stated.

The warning has reignited longstanding public concern over the future of the Achimota Forest, a critical ecological asset that plays a key role in urban climate regulation, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem stability in the capital.

Environmental groups argue that as long as E.I. 144 remains in force, the forest remains vulnerable to administrative decisions that could gradually erode its protected status, despite its strategic importance to Accra’s environmental resilience.

Government officials have previously sought to downplay fears surrounding the fate of the forest. During a working visit to the Forestry Commission on April 9, 2025, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, dismissed suggestions that the Achimota Forest would be lost to development.

“The Achimota Forest will remain a forest. It’s the only forest reserve in Accra, and we must protect it for future generations,” the minister said.

Armah-Kofi Buah acknowledged that the forest continues to face threats but assured that government is exploring all necessary measures to ensure its protection, stressing that safeguarding Achimota is part of Ghana’s broader environmental protection and climate resilience agenda.

For A Rocha Ghana and other environmental advocates, however, revoking Executive Instrument 144 has become central to translating political assurances into enforceable action and ensuring that the Achimota Forest is preserved as a public ecological asset for present and future generations.

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