Pressure Group, Mass Action Committee (MAC) has argued that the decision by government to declassify the Achimota Forest Reserve and the subsequent granting of leases to the Owoo Family is unacceptable and must therefore be reversed.
In a statement signed by its Convener, Atik Mohammed, MAC noted that the conduct of government in the matter and the justifications advanced for the release of 361.5 acres of land to the Owoo family, have left a whole lot to be desired.
“We have observed with grave concern and disappointment, the issuance by the government of Executive Instruments 144 and 154 relative to the Achimota Forest Reserve. These instruments, if enforced, would decrease the cover of the only forest reserve in Accra in a manner never witnessed in the history of the reserve. It is no gainsaying that, impervious land cover (such as buildings, roads, and cleared lands among others) in the reserve has been growing more rapidly to the detriment of the forest cover in the last three decades. For instance, Tuffuor-Mills and Addo-Fordjour (2020) estimate that 59.34% of the Achimota forest reserve was lost to impervious cover between 1991 and 2015. This obviously gloomy trend, one would expect, would guide the actions of the government. Unfortunately, it turns out the government has other motivations other than the protection and preservation of Accra’s only forest reserve.”, it said.
According to the group, the singular action by the government does not only offend our collective effort at environmental sustainability, “but it undermines our commitment to major international instruments, protocols and agreements. One such instrument that leaps readily to mind is SDG 15. We are enjoined by this goal among others, to sustainably manage our forests, halt and reverse land degradation. In particular, we are expected to achieve 0.0 target in permanent deforestation – permanent deforestation is described as “tree cover removal for urbanization, commodity production and certain types of small-scale agriculture”. The group, therefore, called on all major political stakeholders and the clergy to speak up against this needless, opaque and unconscionable attempt to decrease the forest cover of Accra’s only forest reserve.
“We also call on Ghana’s development partners, particularly those involved in sustainable development to hold the government to account for its decision to deforest a huge part of Accra’s only forest reserve without justifiable basis,” it added.
The group warned that if the government does not rescind its decision to declassify those parts of the Achimota forest reserve named in the Schedule of EI 144 in the shortest possible time, the “Mass Action Committee will be forced to employ other means within the law to defend our only forest in the capital city of Accra”
