Mahama Commits GH¢200m to Reclaim 5,000 acres of Degraded Lands

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President John Dramani Mahama has announced that the government has allocated 200 million Ghana cedis to reclaim 5,000 acres of degraded land starting next year. He disclosed the plan at the 2026 Mining in Motion Summit at Destiny Arena in Accra on Monday, October 19, 2026.

Illegal mining has destroyed approximately 12,000 acres of land in Ghana, and reclamation has already begun, with the Gold Board contracting the Ghana Armed Forces to restore 253 acres in the Tano-Nimiri forest. President Mahama also revealed that the nine forest reserves once closed to guards as red zones are being prepared for reclamation.

“Newmont has reclaimed almost 800 acres of mined-out lands and planted it with useful crops.”

President Mahama credited two ministers for the allocation. He commended the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources and the Minister of Finance, and he stated that the money covers reclamation of 5,000 acres beginning next year.

The announcement builds on a push that The Vaultz News has followed for months. The Lands Ministry issued a call for support in February, and a July report said the government reclaimed 1,335 acres of degraded land. This month, GoldBod committed GH¢35 million to land reclamation.

Ghana has 288 forest reserves, and illegal miners penetrated 48 of them. Nine became red zones because the miners were fully armed and forest guards could not enter. Mahama noted that officials have cleared all nine of illegal miners and are preparing those reserves for restoration.

He explained that the government has “embarked on reclamation of these forest reserves,” which turns the removal of armed miners into the first step of land restoration rather than the last.

The Gold Board awarded the Ghana Armed Forces a contract to reclaim land destroyed in the Tano-Nimiri forest, Mahama disclosed, and that work is ongoing.

The Defence Ministry, GoldBod and the Forestry Commission are partners on the project, and the Armed Forces Engineer Regiment leads the heavy engineering, which includes pit filling, grading and soil compaction.

The contract follows a June partnership in which GoldBod joined the Defence Ministry and others to reclaim galamsey-degraded zones.

President Mahama singled out the private sector for praise. He commended Newmont for “the excellent work it is doing in the area of reclamation.” The company’s results give the government a working example as it scales up its own programme.

The Lands Ministry’s programme reaches into other parts of the country. In the Adanse area, the Jimi Land Reclamation Project covers 153 hectares upstream of the Jimi Dam, which supplies vital drinking water. The Ministry runs it with Manhyia Palace and the AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine.

In the Western Region, the Nkroful Reclamation Project targets 800 acres along the River Subri, working with RM Ecorestore Ghana Limited. At the Apamprama Forest Reserve, contractors are replanting mahogany and indigenous trees on 60 hectares, an expansion from a 22-hectare pilot.

Reclamation runs alongside efforts to stop new damage. President Mahama disclosed that 11 cooperatives have been trained in new mining methods and are operational.

“The Gold Board is financing small-scale artisanal mining with new technology that prevents destruction of the environment.”

The government has also registered and detained 6,060 excavators at the ports, and 2,059 of them carry tracking devices that show where they operate.

Replanting forms the other half of the effort. The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation and REDD Plus are beginning a major reforestation initiative in various parts of Ghana, including the savannah regions.

The Tree for Life initiative also works with the National Alternative Employment and Livelihood Programme (NAELP) to raise seedlings of economic trees and crops such as oil palm.

Regulators have set a condition for the state’s own projects. The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has warned that reclamation work must undergo full Environmental Impact Assessments, and it halts unapproved dredging and reclamation to protect fragile river systems.

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