Question

1. The Atiwa forest is rich in bauxite. The resources could be harnessed to support development in the country. The government of Ghana has signed a batter deal with the Republic of China. In this deal, bauxite deposits in the Atiwa forest would be exploited by china in exchange for 2 billion dollars. Three Civil Society Organization (CSOs) have asked the government to reconsider its plans to mine bauxite in the Atiwa Forest. According to the CSOs it poses a threat to the Atiwa Forest and, therefore, is not in the national interest. The three – the Friends of the Earth, the Green Livelihood Alliance and AROCHA Ghana, made this known at a news conference to further press home their concerns. Mr. Nehemiah Tettey Odjer-Bio, the Project Coordinator of Friends of the Earth and a spokesperson for the group, said their concerns bothered on access to information on the proposed agenda, forest and biodiversity, health, impact on water supplies, community food production, jobs and carbon finance. He said mining of bauxite would have conflict and contradictions on the country’s Forest policies and forest management.

You are employed as a regulator to assess the proposed project. Discuss the costs and benefits of mining in the Atiwa forest and state your position.

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Three Civil Society Organization (CSOs) have asked the government to reconsider its plans to mine bauxite in the Atiwa Forest. According to the CSOs it poses a threat to the Atiwa Forest and, therefore, is not in the national interest. The three – the Friends of the Earth, the Green Livelihood Alliance and AROCHA Ghana, made this known at a news conference to further press home their concerns. Mr Nehemiah Tettey Odjer-Bio, the Project Coordinator of Friends of the Earth and a spokesperson for the group, said their concerns bothered on access to information on the proposed agenda, forest and biodiversity, health, impact on water supplies, community food production, jobs and carbon finance. He said mining of bauxite would have conflict and contradictions on the country’s Forest policies and forest management.

He said: “Since the announcement of government’s intention to mine bauxite in the Atiwa Forest we have made numerous calls to Government to conduct a Strategic Environmental Assessment to understand the full impact of this development and the environment”. “We regret to say that this still has not been done,” he said and urged the Environmental Protection Agency to demand that study to be undertaken as a matter of urgency. That, he said, would enable the communities and the government to then determine if bauxite mining in Atiwa is really in the interests of the country and its people in the long run. Mr Tettey-Odjer-Bio said there were very little information available to the public on the agreements made on the proposed bauxite mining in Atewa forest.

…He said they believe in environmentally sustainable development that would serve Ghanaians better. He therefore asked Government to consider all the issues raised and the value of Atiwa Forest for provision and water cycling, livelihoods, biodiversity and climate change mitigation, and reverse its decision to mine bauxite in the Atewa Forest. Mr Daryl E. Bosu, the Deputy National Director in charge of Operations, said if the country could manage its biodiversity well, there would be no need to take donors’ fund for artificial pollination of cocoa. He said current interventions being taken by the government is not yielding any results and urged the government to maintain the trust the people reposed in it to do proper Strategic Environmental Assessment on the Atiwa Forest before going into any partnership.

Ghana's Atewa Forest under threat from mining devastation

Atewa Forest, Ghana not only supports a wealth of rare and endemic wildlife, but also provides clean water for nearby cities. Despite this, the Government intends to mine the area for bauxite, destroying the entire forest in the process. Can the conservation world overturn this devastating plan?

Update: Despite cautions from the U.S Forest Service, on May 30 the Government of Ghana began creating access roads into Atewa Forest Reserve in preparation for the bauxite mining. A Rocha Ghana, Ghana Wildlife Society and other CSOs are still fighting to save this unique forest. You can help by signing the petition and spreading the word using #AtewaForest and #SaveAtewa4Water

When Atewa Hills was originally designated a Forest Reserve in 1926, it was to protect its value as a watershed source. The Reserve houses the headwaters of the Birim, Densu and Ayensu rivers and their tributaries; vital water sources for the surrounding communities including Ghana’s capital, Accra. As the years passed, people began to recognise other values of the forest as well. More than 100 species that live in the forest are globally threatened, and more than 227 species of bird call Atewa home.

However, for some the value of Atewa is not the forest itself, but the minerals that lie beneath its soil. Atewa sits atop roughly 150 million tonnes of bauxite, which is used to make aluminium. The Government of Ghana intends to mine the Atewa Range Forest Reserve as part of a national infrastructure development programme. The bauxite deposit will be used as a mortgage to the Chinese to fund the country’s development drive. Worryingly, at the end of May the government of Ghana began clearing routes into Atewa Forest in preparation to commence mining. The situation is getting urgent.

Several groups including A Rocha Ghana, Friends of the Earth Ghana, West African Primate Conservation Action, Ghana Wildlife Society (BirdLife Partner), and a number of professional institutions and state actors are opposing the project. This is because in order to mine the Atewa Range Forest Reserve, the entire forest would have to be removed. Even if this forest was not considered irreplaceable, re-growing the forest after bauxite mining would be nearly impossible, as soil is extremely disturbed during the process.

The organisations argue that Atewa forest does not need to be mined for industry to proceed. In 2016, A Rocha, along with its partners, published a report on the economics of Atewa Forest and found that if it were granted National Park status with a well-managed buffer zone it would return higher economic value to Ghana over 25 years than mining would. Currently, the groups are advocating for a government policy change that would avert plans to mine at Atewa. They are also strengthening their efforts to develop models for sustainable green businesses around Atewa such as ecotourism and cocoa processing value addition.

Controlled Burns

States that have particularly high rates of wildfires will reduce their risk of widespread damage by burning off sections of land so large fires will get cut off before they go any further.

Sometimes referred to as swailing or burn-off, controlled burns may be used for a variety of purposes outside of forest fire prevention.

Controlled burns usually happen during the cooler months of the year, so that when summer rolls around there will be less build-up of combustible debris.

Some seeds and trees have adapted and evolved to survive, and even thrive as a result of fires. Example: Lodge pines and sequoias will drop cones that disperse seeds when exposed to heat.

Campfire Safety

Campfire safety is critical when preventing forest fires; so critical that it made Smokey Bear’s five rules of wildfire prevention.

While campfires are a lot of fun, they also come with serious responsibility. There are four things you need to keep in mind while setting up a campfire:

• Location: Make sure your campfire location is at least 15 feet away from tents, walls, or combustible vegetation. Never build a campfire in a hazardous, dry condition.
• Preparation: clear the area you plan to dig your pit in a 10 ft diameter. Make sure your pit is at least one foot deep and you surround the edges with rocks to catch sparks.
• Building your fire: Gather ethical and ecological sources of fuel like wood and shrubbery to fill your fire pit with and light it with matches or a lighter.
• How to maintain and extinguish your fire: Use larger pieces of wood to keep your fire going and never let it get to an unmanageable size. Pour water and cover your fire with dirt so its coals are completely extinguished.