{"id":350623,"date":"2025-05-24T18:07:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T18:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2025\/05\/24\/the-ecological-damage-is-grave-ghana-bishops-sound-alarm-on-illegal-mining\/"},"modified":"2025-05-24T18:07:06","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T18:07:06","slug":"the-ecological-damage-is-grave-ghana-bishops-sound-alarm-on-illegal-mining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2025\/05\/24\/the-ecological-damage-is-grave-ghana-bishops-sound-alarm-on-illegal-mining\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ecological damage is grave – Ghana Bishops sound alarm on illegal mining"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference has issued a searing indictment of the country\u2019s ecological destruction caused by illegal mining, calling for immediate and systemic intervention to halt what they describe as a \u201cthreat of national proportion.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Gabriel Asempa Antwi – Accra.<\/b><\/p>\n

In an address delivered at Jubilee House during a formal audience with Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday, president of the Conference, Bishop Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, decried the rampant degradation of Ghana\u2019s forests and rivers, warning that the crisis is as much moral as it is environmental.<\/p>\n

The ecological damage<\/b> is grave<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u201cMr. President, we are also burdened by the devastation of illegal mining. What began as subsistence activity has grown into a threat of national proportion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He outlined that over 4,000 hectares of forest cover has been lost within two years, and rivers such as the Pra, Offin, and Ankobra now reduced to \u201cbywords for environmental collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ecological damage is grave, but the social and moral disintegration it breeds is just as perilous,\u201d Bishop Gyamfi added. \u201cWe must act\u2014not only with force, but with foresight. Enforcement must be balanced by credible and sustainable alternatives for those driven by desperation,\u201d said Bishop Gyamfi.<\/p>\n

An action plan to arrest Galamsey<\/b><\/h2>\n

In one of the most detailed Church-led policy interventions in recent years, the Bishops proposed a comprehensive 7-point action plan to arrest what is locally known as galamsey.<\/p>\n

The first is, Repeal of Permissive Legal Instruments: They called for a review and repeal of sections of the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703) and its associated regulations which permit unchecked licensing.<\/p>\n

Moratorium on New Licenses: An immediate freeze on new artisanal and small-scale mining licenses until environmental and social reviews are complete.<\/p>\n

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