The Deputy National Director of A Rocha Ghana, Daryl Bosu, has strongly criticised the government’s proposed amendment to Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 2462, warning that it could lead to widespread destruction of the country’s forests.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, on Monday, March 31, he highlighted the risks associated with the amendment, stressing the need for full protection of all forest reserves.

According to Mr Bosu, the original version of L.I. 2462 was passed in 2022 without proper consultation with key stakeholders, including industry players, environmental groups, and the general public. The law permitted mining in both protected and production forest reserves, removing previous restrictions that had limited mining to only 2% of production forest areas.

“This new law took away all protections that forest reserves had. It also removed any limitations on mining, prioritising mining permits over environmental and water resource permits,”.

“If a mining concession is granted by the minister, it becomes almost impossible for regulatory bodies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the Forestry Commission to deny it,” he explained.

He further stated that environmental groups, including A Rocha Ghana, had engaged both past and present governments to revoke L.I. 2462. Before the 2024 elections, the government had pledged to repeal the law, acknowledging the environmental risks and the lack of transparency in its passage.

However, recent developments suggest that instead of repealing L.I. 2462, the present government intends only to amend it, limiting protection to just 10% of Ghana’s forest reserves.

He warned that this amendment would still leave approximately 250 forest reserves vulnerable to mining activities.

“We need to protect not only the 10% but all forest reserves,” he stated.

“If we don’t revoke this law, we are committing an injustice to future generations. Forest reserves provide essential services to both the young and old. Allowing mining to take over these lands will have devastating consequences.”

He also expressed concern about how previous administrations had exercised their authority to allocate mining concessions, sometimes without proper environmental oversight.

“We have seen how the previous administration abused this power. We cannot allow that to continue into the future,” he said.