At the BRACE Community Durbar in Kunsu, participants emphasized the disparity between the profits of a few individuals and the struggles of the community. They argued that mining has severe environmental and social impacts, but provides little developmental benefit to the community at large.
Residents have reported numerous issues such as skin diseases, polluted water sources, devastated farmlands, and frequent encounters with venomous animals, leading to injuries and child drownings.
The Director of Nature and Development Foundation, Mr. Mustapha Seidu, highlighted the importance of strategically placed trees in cocoa farming, highlighting their role in regulating temperature, reducing soil moisture loss, and promoting sustainable production and increased crop yield in Assin Fosu during his visit to beneficiaries of the "COCOA FOREST MOSAIC FOR PEOPLE AND ECOSYSTEM RESILIENCE project.
Women shea nut collectors from the Gbantala, Kpalwogu, Katua, Wuntibri, and Yizesi communities have received training on the safe collection of shea nut using the shea nut rollers. According to the women, the traditional method of collecting shea nuts with bare hands is characterized by snake bites, scorpion bites, injuries from other sharp objects or sticks, and long bending or squatting, which usually results in waist pain and other health challenges.
In a heartwarming video interview, Alhassan and Bawa, two beneficiaries of a sustainable livelihood intervention of the project, “Living with Wildlife: Improving Livelihoods in the Mole Ecological Landscape” have pledged to abandon hunting practices within the Mole National Park. Their stories serve as a powerful testament to the project's success in uplifting communities from poverty to conserving wildlife.
The sustainable shea production is part of various livelihood improvement interventions that is being rolled out in the two CREMAs as part of the project. The target of the activity is to train 400 women within the Mole Ecological Landscape for efficient and safe collection of organic shea nut and to increase quality and quantity of the shea butter produced from the nuts.
The National House of Chiefs has added to calls recommending the total abolition of policies that grant permission for mining in the country’s forest reserves.According to the House, although regulatory policies were instituted to rake in more resources and economic benefits for the country, the governing bodies have failed to implement the policies judiciously.
The objective of the project is to ensure adequate buy-ins on the list of key documents to be submitted as evidence of legality of timber and timber products sourced and used in public procurement contracts.
The Minority in Parliament has emphasized the necessity for the government to annul Executive Instrument 144, which declassified sections of the Achimota Forest as a forest reserve.
The L.I. called the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations, L.I. 2462, gives the President of the country the authority to approve mining activities in Ghana's protected forest reserves.