Reforestation programme for degraded Kweikaru land
Over 257 hectares of degraded land in the Kweikaru Forest has been handed over to Newmont Golden Ridge Limited, a mining company, for a reforestation programme.
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This was the outcome of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the Forestry Commission (FC) and the mining company last Friday.
The project is the second phase of Newmont’s reforestation programme, which will see the company nurse and nurture seeds, plant seedlings and manage the forest reserve for the next 10 years.
The first phase, covering 60 hectares of the boundary area between the company’s mines and the Ajenua Bepo Forest was begun in 2014.
Total coverage
The two projects will together cover 303 hectares, which is three times Newmont’s current mining area, and will involve replanting indigenous trees.
Newmont operates on 101 hectares of the Ajenua Forest Reserve and this has had a significant impact on the forest as a result of the company’s open-pit mining operations.
The reforestation programme forms part of Newmont’s mitigation measures rolled out in consultation with the FC to offset the effects of mining activities by Newmont’s Akyem Mine on the Ajenua Bepo Forest Reserve.
The second phase of the forest plantation project will ensure that the degraded Mamang Forest Reserve is maintained.
At the ceremony, the Executive Director of the Forest Services Division of the FC, Mr Raphael Yeboah, said the collaborative enterprise was a demonstration of Newmont’s commitment to honour its obligation under the terms and conditions which led to the award of the contract to mine in a forest reserve.
“Besides the environmental benefit of enhancing biodiversity in the area, the project will help reduce carbon emissions. It is hoped this will offset some of the company’s carbon footprint,” he said.
He commended the effort Newmont was putting in but stated that corporate social responsibility programmes that were undertaken by mining companies should not be based only on providing physical infrastructure but also on investment of resources towards enhancing biodiversity and planned greening undertakings as a means of reducing carbon footprint.
Environmental protection
The Executive Vice-President of Sustainability and External Relations of the Newmont Mining Company, Dr Elaine Dorward-King, said the company was a responsible steward and would work continuously towards attaining deeper commitment to environmental protection through strategic planning and management of its operational activities as far as its effects on the environment were concerned.
“The Akyem Reforestation Offset Programme provides yet another opportunity for us to demonstrate to the world our own little but significant contribution to the cause of good environmental management,” she said.
Newmont’s Regional Senior Vice-President, Africa Operations, Mr Alwyn Pretorius, said the company’s reforestation project would go down as one of the success stories of environmental stewardship in the extractive industry.
For his part, the Interim Manager of the Newmont Akyem Mine, Mr Yaw Okyere Ntrama, said the company would continue to work with government agencies and other stakeholders to ensure that they delivered successfully on the programme, while creating value and improved lives through sustainable and responsible mining.
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