Former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, says Ghana will require an estimated $21 billion to reclaim and restore lands degraded largely by illegal mining and other destructive activities.

He said about 10 per cent of Ghana’s surface area, equivalent to approximately 23,853 square kilometres, had been degraded, leaving the country with an enormous environmental restoration bill.

Prof Frimpong-Boateng made the remarks on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, while delivering the keynote address at the Fourth Annual Colloquium organised by the Department of Political Science Education at the University of Education, Winneba.

The event was held under the theme, “Politics, the Environment, and Our Future: Ghana at Crossroads?”

“About a tenth of the surface area of Ghana is degraded, some 23,853 square kilometres. Reclaiming and restoring what has already been destroyed would cost in the order of $21 billion,” he stated.

He added that restoring the Ankobra River alone had been estimated to cost about $400 million, excluding the cost of rehabilitating other polluted water bodies, including the Pra, Offin, Birim, Anum, Oda and the Black, White and Red Volta rivers.

Prof Frimpong-Boateng, who chaired the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining between 2017 and 2021, described galamsey as “the largest environmental crime in our history”.

He warned that the destruction of forests and water bodies was exposing mining communities to toxic substances such as mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium and chromium, which could cause neurological damage, cancer, kidney failure and pregnancy complications.

Galamsey has intensified over the years, causing widespread destruction of farmlands, forests and major rivers, particularly in mining communities across the Ashanti, Eastern, Western and Western North regions.

Successive governments have introduced military operations, task forces, mining bans and alternative livelihood programmes to curb the menace.

However, Prof. Frimpong-Boateng argued that these interventions had repeatedly failed because governments abandoned enforcement measures and institutional safeguards after announcing them.

He called for the establishment of an independently governed Environmental Restoration Fund, financed by a defined share of mineral royalties, to support river remediation and land reclamation.