Environmentalists urge Ghana government to exclude Atiwa forest from bauxite exploitation agreement

Environmental protection organisations have urged Ghana government to halt the planned mining of bauxite in the Atiwa Forest Reserve and to completely exclude it from the bauxite mining agreement because of water provision services and ecological reasons, Ghana News Agency reported.

The organisations are led by Friends of the Earth-Ghana (FoE), in collaboration with ARocha Ghana and Tropenbos Ghana, forest research organisations under the auspices of the Green Livelihood Alliance.

Dr Theo Anderson, the Director of FoE, “We want to remind the China Development Bank that funding the destruction of the Atiwa Forest violates the Bank’s own environmental principles and has a consequence for the Bank’s reputation and public image and we call on the Chinese Banking Regulatory Authority to apply all the necessary sanctions on the China Development Bank should they go ahead to fund the bauxite mining in the Atiwa Forest.”

“FoE Ghana and its partners maintain that China Development Bank’s proposed funding towards Bauxite Mining in the Atiwa Forest would have a very damaging impact on biodiversity, wildlife, climate, water resources, and people.”

The groups have also urged the government to make the Atiwa forest a national park so that they can get sufficient long lasting income through tourism and also several green development activity in the area.

Atewa Forest Reserve, the source of three major river bodies, Ayensu, Densu and Birim, provides water more than 5 million people in Greater Accra Region, Eastern Region and some parts of the Central Region.