Ghana: A Tale Of Contradictory Environmental Policies And Practice

Ghana appears to be paying lip service to Climate Change and environmental matters. Our state institutions attend the COP (Conference of the Parties) and other climate change meetings, and sign up to various climate mitigation and environmental commitments, such as the UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).

It looks great on paper, but what happens on the ground is too often diametrically opposed to achieving the commitments we sign up to.

Civil society organisations and the media are becoming increasingly frustrated with the President's reluctance to keep his promise to revoke LI 2462, which allows virtually unfettered access to our forest reserves. Unfortunately, all that has been done is to tinker with LI2462, by amending it.

In addition to the revocation of LI2462, we are calling for the revocation of EI 144, which declassifies parts of Achimota Forest, the last remaining forest reserve in Accra the lungs of Accra. This is at a time when the soaring temperatures, flooding and poor rainfall indicate we need more, not less, forest cover.

On the one hand the government has tree planting programmes, and on the other hand it allows the destruction of our forest reserves, the poisoning of our water bodies and landscape, structures on wetlands, and buildings on our green spaces.

All across Ghana, the Department of Parks and Gardens lands are under siege. A case in point is Parks and Gardens land in Wa in the Upper West Region, where a petrol station has been built and ICON has recently started operating the petrol station on a green space that should be used for horticultural purposes.

Green spaces are critical in slowing desertification, especially in the Sahel, which is the last bastion stopping the Sahara extending south.

It is disappointing that the duty bearers, including the Head of the Upper West Regional Office of the Environmental Protection Authority, have permitted the operation of the petrol station on a green space.

It must be recalled that on 4th July 2024, after a campaign by Eco-Conscious Citizens, the then Minister for Local Government said in Parliament : “I wish to confirm that the Certificate of Allocation dated 27th November 1975 has been retrieved from the Lands Commission. In this regard, the Ministry has served notice to reclaim the encroached lands of the Department in the Upper West Region and other areas.

The understanding was that the petrol station in Wa, in the Upper West Region which was then under construction, would be removed.

Unfortunately, on the blind side of environmentalists, and due to dereliction of duty, the petrol station has now been completed and is open for business. The duty bearers including, Lands Commission, the Upper West Regional Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority, and the National Petroleum Agency have a case to answer.

Questions including when the area was rezoned must be answered. If there was no rezoning, on what basis did the Environmental Protection Authority provide cover? Lawlessness can only prevail if duty bearers fail to act in the face of the impunity, which is becoming common place.

Ghanaians gave the current government an overwhelming mandate for change, and expect delivery on promises made. We would like to see the much-touted Re-set implemented across every area within the government's control, so that it does not appear that Ghanaians voted, yet again, for musical chairs – new incumbents, but business as usual.

We urge Hon. Ibrahim Ahmed, Local Government Minister to cause this matter to be investigated as a matter of urgency, and call on Ghanaians and the media to add their voice to the following demands:

1. An investigation into this serious breach of spatial use and the failure of the EPA to uphold its Environmental Mandate.

2. The removal of all illegal structures on Parks and Gardens land.

3. An audit of all Parks and Gardens land across Ghana.