JoyNews investigations have uncovered yet another invasion of one of Ghana’s protected forest reserves in the Asankragwa and Aowin municipalities of the Western region, destroying over 10 football fields of the biodiversity area.

Our initial investigations reveal that Chinese nationals and their influential Ghanaian collaborators managed to mine for days in two protected compartments of the Tano Anwia Forest Reserve before the Forestry Commission stopped them.

It’s not clear why the Forestry Commission allowed the invasion to thrive for days before stopping it. No explanation has also been given as to why no arrests were made and the illegal miners were allowed to track their equipment out.

The Tano-Anwia forest reserve in the Aowin municipality covers part of the watershed of the Tano River. It was gazetted as a Forest Reserve in 1955.

Experts say it meets one or more previously established criteria for identified sites of biodiversity importance, including Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas.

In December 2023, JoyNews reported an invasion of compartments 74 and 75 of the reserve by Chinese miners led by an executive of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Aowin municipality.