An anti-galamsey group, made up of the International Association for Impact Assessment, Ghana (IAIA) and its partners, has called for effective implementation of policies to help curb the menace.
The group is seeking to provide a comprehensive understanding of the galamsey (illegal mining) problem, and provide an organised practical, step by step, integrated and intersectural approach to uprooting the problem and define a pathway for a sustainable solution.
The IAIA Ghana organised a symposium on the impacts of galamsey under the theme, “The Galamsey Menace: What Legacy are we leaving?” which brought together representatives from Green Advocacy Ghana, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Media Coalition Against Galamsey, Minerals Commission and Ministry for Lands and Natural Resource and many others.
In a speech presented on behalf of the President of IAIA, Dyson Jumpah, he disclosed that the destruction of the environment continued as about 200,000 miners undertake such activities.
“The devastation of major water bodies, forests, farmlands, livelihoods and the spillover effects on the water utility services, the Ghanaian economy, and the threatening trans-boundary impacts from galamsey continues as it is estimated that about 200,000 miners, including foreigners, are actively involved.”
According to him, the operations of these illegal miners were characterised by the use of heavy machinery to indiscriminately excavate large tracts of land in search for gold, and having no regards of its negatively effects on water bodies, communities, and the nation.
Mr. Jumpah indicated that the newly introduced community mining approach was heavily plagued with abuse and serious weaknesses.
It is as a result of this that he has called for urgent and appropriate actions to bring to an end the ongoing rampant devastation and socioeconomic harm.
Also, a call for mitigation of the ecological damage and promotion of the restoration of the forest landscapes and quality of water bodies.
A retired Senior Scientist of CSIR, Anthony A. Duah, in his presentation on why the galamsey fight failed in previous attempts, blamed it on the lack of a full understanding of the scope of complexity of the problem and inappropriate approaches and superficial strategies to fight it.
Other factors that cause havoc, he mentioned, were no commitment to topsoil storage and management, too many small scale mining license holders, and less stringent environment regulatory regime and non-enforcement.
He recommended that there is the need for government to maintain the deployed military presence as an interim intervention to ensure sanity and orderliness.
The Co-convener of the Media Coalition Against Galamsey, Carol Annang, also recommended that the continuous assessment of the Water Quality of Ghana’s Rivers and Public Education on impacts of galamsey on human health and the environment will go a long way to help curb the menace.
She continued that the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency must be seen to be working in the Districts and also minerals laws made to work.
