15,000 hectares of land degraded through small scale mining

Manso-Nkwanta, (Ash), Nov. 04, GNA - Small-scale mining has led to the degradation of about 15,000 hectares of land in the country, Dr. Ebenezer Owusu-Sekyere, Senior Research Scientist at the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) has said.

He said the lands had been stripped bare of vegetation, lost the top soils and left with deep underground uncovered water pits. "Their activities are having serious environmental effects, the loss of flora and fauna habitats, water contamination and deficiency," he said. Dr. Owusu-Sekyere was addressing a day's workshop to help equip 60 selected opinion leaders from Yaw Kasakrom, a mining community in the Amansie West District, with the requisite skills to negotiate for crop and land use compensation with mining concessionaires. It was also to help them to have a better understanding of their social rights and responsibilities and proper methods for reclamation of degraded lands.

Jointly organized by FORIG and the Minerals Commission, the workshop formed part of a project to find ways to restore lands destroyed through the activities of small scale miners. The Commission is funding the project, which is being supervised by a team of Scientists from FORIG.

Dr Owusu-Sekyere said more needed to be done to protect the environment for posterity, adding, this demanded co-operation and sacrifices. He underscored FORIG's determination to help with soil rehabilitation, and improvement through the laying of soil structures, stabilization of slopes in degraded areas, establishment and maintenance of the vegetation. Dr Dominic Blay, a Principal Research Scientist at FORIG, called for effective collaboration between the Commission and the mining communities so that the people were not cheated by miners. Mr Ernest Okyere, Assistant District Officer at the Dunkwa Office of the Minerals Commission, took participants through mining concession acquisition processes and advised them not to hesitate to contact his office whenever they had problems with the miners. Mr Charles Oti-Prempeh, District Chief Executive, said the Assembly would provide the needed resources to help the project to succeed. Nana Akwasi Addai, Odikro of Yaw Kasakrom, complained about deep uncovered pits left in the area by miners, some of which were left as far back as 1998. 04 Nov. 09