Photos: Another demo against Atewa forest mining as gov’t sticks to plan branded ‘environmental disaster’
For the umpteenth time, a demonstration has been organised protesting government’s plan to mine the Atewa forest for bauxite, branded by conservationists as an environmental disaster in waiting.
This time a group known as the Concerned Citizens of Atewa Landscape (CCAL) are marching three kilometers from Segyemase to Kyebi in the Eastern region.
This is not the first time the group has organised a protest over the Atewa bauxite mining plan.
Even though they are yet to receive any positive response from government, they have embarked on yet another protest to pile pressure on the Akufo Addo-led administration to back down on its quest to mine in the protected forest area.
Hundreds of residents clad in red armbands and in red clothes wielded several placards with various inscriptions against the plan.
Atewa Range Forest Reserve, in the eastern region of Ghana, is internationally recognized as one of the highest priority ecosystems in West Africa for its high species diversity, high levels of endemism and great hydrological importance.
The forest was gazetted as a National Forest Reserve in 1926 and as one of Ghana’s 30 Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas (GSBAs) in 1999. It is also recognised as an Important Bird Area.
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 in the capital, Accra.
It has been described as Ghana’s crown jewel of biodiversity. It is said to be home to more than 100 globally threatened species.
In May 2019 the Government of Ghana, through its agency the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Authority (GIADEC) started clearing roads in the forest to undertake exploratory drilling for bauxite (see our report here).
In December 2019 the Government of Ghana showed a map showing the extent of the exploratory drilling that they have been undertaking in Atewa forest.
The government has began paving roads in the area to be mined.