A GNA feature by Mildred Siabi-Mensah
Takoradi, Feb. 20, GNA – Illegal mining and sand winning practices have caused serious adverse economic social and ecological impact on productive farmlands, degradation of vegetative cover, pollution of water bodies, destruction of landscape among other destructions.
General Impact
Also, the activities have caused the spread of water-borne diseases, harm to wildlife and destruction of biodiversity as well as conflicts or confrontations in host Communities.
Aside destroying crops and lands, illegal mining and sand winning activities also threaten human health as moving trucks emit excessive noise and dust, causing pollution, pits and gullies created at the sites on farms and close to homes become breeding grounds for mosquitoes during rainy seasons.
Lands have been perpetually damaged and rendered unproductive, while beautiful landscapes that offer pleasant sceneries are ruined.
Facts and figures
A study conducted by Assin Kushea Cooperative Cocoa Farmers Society Limited with support from Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund, DANIDA and USAID assessed effects of sand and illegal mining on agriculture in the Assin North District in the Central Region, to find out the long-term effects of illegal mining in terms of the livelihood and also food security in the area pointed out that illegal mining activities though banned, mostly occur in productive agricultural lands.
This has left massive destruction to arable lands, open pits, destroyed cocoa farms and polluted water bodies.
Areas once noted for good vegetation and topography have turned into savannah grasslands, with their own attendant consequences on food production and food security.
The study noted that the agricultural sector was not lucrative, due to high cost of implements and the lack of modern methods of production.
The farmers say Fertilizers and seedlings are expensive, an entry barrier to many desirable youth.
Mr Seth Gyasi, the Chairman of the Assin Kushea Cocoa Farmers Society said, “The rampaging effects of mining and sand winning in the study has left in its wake, visible adverse effects that include; dust pollution and its attendant respiratory tract infections, open pits that collect water and breed mosquitoes to spread malaria, destruction of the topography and permanently ruining the scenery of beautiful landscape in addition to the destruction of vegetative cover and also increasing the susceptibility of the affected areas” .
Although there is a growing awareness of the importance of sound environmental management amongst stakeholders in study area, mitigation strategies are possibly offset by inconsistencies and non-availability of comprehensive regulatory by-laws, guidelines, and standards, as well as monitoring and enforcement.
Some recommendations
To make the sector attractive, agricultural experts, traditional rulers and local residents must develop land reclamation guidelines with an enforcement strategy to avoid imminent environmental crisis, which severed consequences on livelihoods.
Additionally, state agencies responsible for enforcing environmental laws particularly the EPA, Minerals Commission must ensure strict adherence to regulations governing mining and sand winning operations to minimise the adverse effects of their activities on other sources of livelihood.
The Cocoa Farmers Society recommends that the assembly must take steps in accordance with section five of the Local Government Act 1993 (Act 462) which gives the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) the mandate to formulate by-laws and guidelines in order to among other things, regulate the exploitation of natural resources including; gold and sand winning.
The EPA should develop and strengthen binding and enforceable standards and specifications for the effective regulation of the gold mining and sand winning industry in consultation with all relevant stakeholders in the extractive industry in the municipality.
Another critical measure that can adequately insulate farmers from the adverse effects of illegal gold mining and sand winning is to make it mandatory for the miners and sand winning firms or individuals to have a comprehensive land reclamation strategy.
The society also recommended that prospective gold miner or sand winner must be bonded to deposit a lump sum into a special account to be jointly managed by the body responsible for the enforcement of the by-laws and guidelines on gold mining and sand winning so that in the event that the miner or sand winner fails to reclaim the land after closure, the amount would be used to pay for the services of a qualified firm to restore the land into a state that can efficiently support crop cultivation.
This, the Society noted will empower the EPA to ensure that gold miners and sand winners to adhere to guidelines and standards as outlined in the reclamation bonds recommended.
Furthermore, tolls and levies the Assin North District Assembly collect from sand winning and mining contractors and tipper trucks should be invested profitably to mitigate the adverse effects of mining on the affected communities.
The various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), the Ghana Police Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must be well-resourced to prosecute individuals and companies that embark on illegal mining and sand winning and allied activities without requisite permits.
GNA