Ghana will need billions of dollars to treat, reclaim and restore vast degraded lands and water bodies caused by activities of illegal miners over the years.
Professor Nana Browne Klutse, the Acting Chief Executive Officer, Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), described the situation as an emergency and appealed to development partners to support the country.
Speaking to the media, she gave a hint that a world bank funded project had helped reclaim some lands, but it was at a pilot stage and the EPA would need funding to upscale.
“We have been approached by companies to help the country reclaim and restore but the condition is for Ghana to pay for the technology after the pilot stage,” Prof. Klutse said.
The ideal situation was to ensure all mining companies, after securing permits, to pay bonds to be used to reclaim the lands, Prof Brown Klutse said.
“In our current dispensation mining has occurred on vast lands by unidentified faces who have absconded. At the moment we have vast lands that have been degraded. We need to reclaim them, but we do not have the money to do that,” she said.
In line with the new Act giving the Agency an authority status, Environmental Protection Act 2025, (Act 1124) Prof. Klutse said the Authority had begun taking steps to increase its presence in the local areas to ensure effective monitoring and enforcement of laws prohibiting all forms of activities that pollute the environment.
“We realised that currently the Authority’s eyes are not everywhere but soon we will establish offices at the district level to educate the public, guide people on their undertaking and punish where necessary to ensure compliance,” she said.
Prof. Klutse assured that the public would see the water bodies being restored soon.
Illegal mining poses a multifaceted challenge to Ghana’s cocoa farming sector, with implications for its economy, environment, and social fabric. Addressing this issue requires a comprehensive approach that includes policy reforms, community support, and long-term environmental restoration efforts.
Reporting by Stephen Freeman, Accra
