ACTIVISTS in Ghana have sued the country’s government for pressing ahead with plans for a bauxite mine that may endanger forests, said Reuters.
The proposed mine in the Atewa Range Forest is part of a $2bn deal signed with China, which will gain access to bauxite – used to make aluminium – in exchange for financing infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges in Ghana, said the newswire.
Seven local advocacy groups and four citizens claim that mining in the forest violates their constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment and their right to protect it for future generations, their lawyer said this week.
“The forest is our life,” Oteng Adjei, head of Concerned Citizens of the Atewa Landscape, told Reuters. His is one of the groups involved in the case, which went to the High Court on July 1, according to documents seen by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “Bauxite mining is a one-time payment. (The government) cannot bring back the original forest.”
Ghana experienced a 60% rise in primary forest loss between 2017 and 2018 – the highest rise in any tropical country, according to the US-based Global Forest Watch, with trees lost to illegal mining, logging and expanding cocoa farms, said Reuters.
The Atewa forest is home to rare plants and animals and is the source of three major rivers that provide water to millions, including residents of the capital Accra, about 90km away.
