International Community raised Reg Flag Against Govt’s Plans to Mine Bauxite in Atewa Forest

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been advised to resist foreign power to reconsider his decision of giving out the Atewa Range Forest Reserve in the Eastern Region to Chinese for bauxite mining.

According to A Rocha Ghana International, a Christian conservation organization which has been kicking against government’s plans to mine bauxite in the Atewa Forest, Ghana risks suffering long-term disadvantages if it proceeds to mine bauxite in the Atewa Forest. 

The organization indicated that though the country would make some profit from mining bauxite, it was also necessary to appreciate that the Atewa Forest is an important water source for most of the river bodies in the country. 

The organization maintained that Ghana set to sacrifice irreplaceable forest and water sources for 5 million people for Chinese-linked bauxite mine.

 According to the organization despite vehement opposition from local communities and international conservation organizations, the Ghanaian government seems determined to proceed with a destructive bauxite mine in the Atewa Forest– a globally important ecosystem that harbours extraordinary wildlife and provides water for 5 million people.

It asserted that recent decision by the government to send bulldozers in to start clearing access roads shows that the authorities have decided to plough ahead with the controversial project. 

It mentioned that if completed, the mine would destroy the forest – one of the world’s Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) and home to more than 100 globally threatened species.

 Designated as a Forest Reserve in 1926, the statement noted that the Atewa forest is also a critical water source, housing the headwaters of the Birim, Densu and Ayensu rivers, which provide water to local communities as well as millions of people downstream, including the capital city of Ghana, Accra.

 “Despite the government’s assertions, bauxite mining would forever destroy the Atewa

Forest, leaving extinct species and dried up water sources in its wake, said deputy national director of A Rocha Ghana, Daryl Bosu.

He said part of a coalition of conservation organizations with over 15 million supporters worldwide that are calling on the government to abandon plans to mine the forest and instead declare it a National Park.

He indicated that over 20,000 people have already signed a petition calling on the government to declare Atewa Forest a National Park.

 “It is still not too late for the government to stop this disastrous mine in its tracks and instead champion Ghana’s incredibly rich natural heritage and the interests of the five million Ghanaians who depend on Atewa Forest for their water,” he added.

Unlike Ghana’s existing bauxite mine at Awaso, which locals describe as a “desert of red mud,” Atewa Forest is teeming with life, home to at least 50 mammal species, more than 1,000 species of plants and at least 230 species of birds and more than 570 butterflies – some of which are found nowhere else in the world.

Mining Atewa Forest for bauxite, the main ingredient in aluminium, would push a number of species even closer to extinction, including the endangered white-napped mangabey, the

Critically endangered togo slippery frog, and the Afia Birago puddle frog, which was only

discovered in 2017.

The government’s decision to start tearing down the forest comes just a month after a

Landmark report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and

Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which highlighted the threat posed to humanity by the rapid loss of biodiversity and called for urgent global action to reverse the trend.

A recent Global Forest Watch report also estimated that there had been a 60 per cent increase in Ghana’s tropical primary rainforest loss in 2018 compared to 2017, the highest in the world.

“The recent UN biodiversity report was crystal clear: protect wildlife or all life on Earth will

suffer, including humans,” said Russ Mittermeier, GWC’s Chief Conservation Officer and chair of the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group.

“The government of Ghana has a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate that it is committed to preserving the countries natural life support system and ecosystems that are critical for the health of the global environment by preventing mining in the Atewa Forest and instead designating it a national park.”

In 2016, A Rocha and partners published a report that showed that protecting Atewa Forest as a national park with a well-managed buffer zone around it – rather than mining it for bauxite has the highest economic value for the country over 25 years, with tremendous benefits to communities both upstream and down.

A recent US government report concluded that “given the scale, duration, and potential

Significant and permanent impact of Ghana’s Integrated Bauxite Plan on the Atewa Forest

Reserve and water supply of over 5 million people, it is critical to evaluate a range of development and management options (including … alternatives to mining) to protect

drinking water and other ecosystem services.”

Funds from the bauxite mine will be used to repay the Chinese company, Sinohydro, for

infrastructure projects in Ghana. 

SRK Consulting, a global company with offices in Europe and the US, has been contracted to develop the mine plan, with initial reports due this month.

“The Ghanaian government must prioritize what is invaluable for the people of Ghana:

Atewa Forest is the crown jewel of the country’s biodiversity and the water towers for three major river systems,” said Frederick Kwame Kumah, WWF Africa Region Director. 

“Bauxite mining in Atewa will cause unimaginable destruction to the forest and river ecosystems and directly impact people’s basic livelihoods.”

Simon Stuart, Synchronicity Earth’s Director of Strategic Conservation added “if mining

Proceeds in the Atewa Forest, not only will we seal the fate of several species, including two

Endemic frogs, but we also set the appalling precedent that mining can proceed in hugely

important places for biodiversity without an Environmental Impact Assessment.

“We call on the Government of Ghana to cancel this project and to stop the damage before it is too late.”

By: GD