Lands Minister urges Ghanaians to support afforestation programme

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has called on all well-meaning Ghanaians to rally behind the government in its afforestation programme, particularly the Green Ghana Project.

According to the Minister, the Green Ghana Project will see to the planting of at least 20,000,000 trees this year.

He made the call yesterday when he appeared on the Breakfast Show of Ghana Television (GTV).

Mr Jinapor said government remains committed to protecting the forest cover of the country, while implementing an aggressive afforestation programme to restore the lost forest cover.

He added that the government was doing this through policies like the Green Ghana Project, the ban on harvest and export of Rosewood, and the ban on commercial production of charcoal in some parts of the country. He bemoaned the continuous depletion of Ghana’s forest cover since 1900 without any aggressive effort to restore same.

Effective management

He also assured that the government would not relent in its efforts to sanitise the lands and natural resources sector through appropriate policies and regulations.

“The commitment of President Akufo-Addo to ensure the sustainable and efficient management of the lands and natural resources of the country, anchored on integrity and transparency, is total and unflinching…. and the government will be relentless, totally committed, and enhance all the measures that have been put in place to come to grips with the matters of illegal mining,” he said.

He observed that the menace of illegal mining is an age-old problem that predates the Fourth Republic, saying even though the problem persists, the government had worked to bring the situation reasonably under control.

He explained that government’s interventions in this area had largely been two-fold: regulatory and enforcement.

In the area of regulation, he mentioned some of the government’s policies as reforms at the Minerals Commission, including resourcing the Inspectorate Division of the Commission, digitalisation of the Minerals Commission, the introduction of online application for mineral rights, and the revamping of the Community Mining Schemes.

Enforcement

On enforcement, he said some of the policies being implemented by the government include the declaration of water bodies and forest reserves as Red Zones for mining, the ban on reconnaissance, prospecting and/or exploration for minerals in forest reserves, the introduction of Operation Halt II, the tracking of earthmoving equipment and machines for mining, among others.

The Minister emphasised that the government of President Akufo-Addo is not against small scale mining, but wants it to be done in a legally regulated way.

To this end, the government has developed a Manual for Community Mining Scheme, which seeks to ensure that community mining is done in an environmentally sound manner. The manual requires that Community Mining Schemes have sick bays, changing rooms, concurrent reclamation and revegetation, functioning offices, and environmental officers on site.

He added that the Regional, Municipal and District Security Councils had been tasked to lead the fight in their various jurisdictions, to be supported by the national taskforce as and when the need arises. He called on all communities to support this fight as the communities bear the brunt of the consequences of illegal mining.

Land sector

Touching on the land sector, the Minister opined that the consequence of a poorly regulated land sector is as serious as illegal mining. The government is therefore committed to building a robust, efficient and effective land administration that is anchored on integrity, he said.

Mr Jinapor added that the government is therefore investing in technology at the Lands Commission to ensure it achieves this vision. Some of these technological reforms has resulted in the Lands Commission moving some of its services, including searches, online, and introducing composite search at the Commission to replace the searches at the different Divisions of the Commission.

He indicated that the Commission is also implementing a digitisation programme that will see to the digitalisation of the records of the Lands Commission.