CSOs To Engage Government Through Consultation Framework

Civil Society Organisations under the KASA Initiative Ghana, working in the Natural Resource and Environment (NRE) Sector, have committed themselves to collaborate with government and its regulatory agencies through the CSO-Government Consultation Framework to protect the environment.

The organisations made the commitment at the end of the Eighth Annual CSO Parallel Review of the NRE sector at a workshop on Universal Periodic Reporting, organised by KASA, an NGO with support from Care Ghana.

This year's event is on the theme: 'Safeguarding the Environment for Posterity for whom the Bell Tolls.'

A Communique issued at the end of the two-day event and read by Mr Samuel Mawutor, the Coordinator of KASA Initiative Ghana, said the CSOs were committed to continuing to engage and share their perspectives and make input into the Multilateral Mining Integrated Project Document to present better alternatives for addressing illegal mining in Ghana.

It commended government and the various NRE agencies for the amendment of the Companies Act to legally require companies to disclose their beneficial owners and sanitise the mining sector through the Multilateral Mining Integrated Project.

It also commended government for the efforts at working with the different stakeholders to developing proposals to access funding from the Green Climate Funds to mitigate the impact of climate change and improve resilience.

On the forestry sector, the CSOs said to reverse the degradation and improve governance in the sector, government must exhibit greater political will to derive the much-needed reforms for tree tenures to provide the needed incentive for farmers and land owners to nurture and keep trees on their farms.

It said there must be greater effort by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to addressing the cocoa sector, which was driving deforestation and degradation of forests particularly in the high forest zones.

'There is the need to tread cautiously in the effort to developing the bauxite resources by mining the Tano Offin and Atewa Forest Reserves, considering the irreversible impacts on water, the environment and the large population of people that depend on these two forest ecosystems,' it added.

It said there was the need to expedite action to operationalise beneficial ownership disclosure in the mining sector to promote transparency and accountability and review the Minerals and Mining Act 703, 2006 considering environmental, social and polluter pay principles, and higher responsibility for mining companies.

On climate change and environment, the communiqué recommended that they should be a greater involvement of stakeholders and representation of civil society voices in the review and preparatory phases of the Ghana Nationally Determined Contributions to reflect a true national agenda.

It said it was important to ensure a true representation of CSOs in Green Climate Fund processes including the accreditation and development of proposals and the use of agro-chemicals to help the eco-system.