Cabinet has made the right call.
On June 24, 2026, the government revoked Executive Instrument E.I 144 as amended by E.I 234.
With that single decision, Achimota Forest in the Greater Accra Region retains its original status as a Forest Reserve.
It remains what it was always meant to be: an ecological safety zone for Accra and its environs.
Announcing it at the Government Accountability Series yesterday in Accra, the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, called it “historic.”
He is right. For years, Ghanaians watched with alarm as portions of the 360-acre reserve were de-gazetted and sold off.
Environmentalists protested. Hydrologists warned. Residents of surrounding communities lived with more heat, less rain, and the threat of floods.
Today, the reversal restores both land and confidence.
This is not just about trees. Achimota Forest is Accra’s green lung. It regulates temperature in a city that gets hotter every year. It absorbs runoff and reduces flooding in nearby areas.
It is home to biodiversity, a research site, an ecotourism destination, and a place where school children learn about nature.
When we allow such reserves to be carved up, we don’t just lose forest.
We lose resilience.
We make our cities more vulnerable to climate change, and we tell the next generation that no public asset is safe.
Cabinet’s revocation says the opposite: some things are not for sale.
Laws alone don’t protect forests. People do.
The ministry is developing a Legislative Instrument for the Wildlife Resources Management Act, 2023 (Act 1115).
When passed, it will give legal backing to Community Resource Management Areas, CREMAs.
CREMAs have become a model: communities and landowners manage resources sustainably and benefit directly.
That is the future. If a community sees value in keeping a forest standing, it will protect it.
If it sees no benefit, the forest will fall.
The damage from illegal mining, galamsey, is visible everywhere.
Government, with private sector partners, has reclaimed 1,535 acres of degraded land in Ashanti.
The target is another 1,500 acres by year end.
Nationally, 960 acres in selected degraded areas are also earmarked.
Reclamation is slow, expensive work.
But it is non-negotiable.
We cannot talk about water security while our rivers run brown.
As the Minister said: “Our rivers are not for sale.
Our forests are not expendable.
Our mineral wealth is a sacred national inheritance.”
There is money in keeping forests alive.
The ministry is upgrading ecotourism infrastructure: a 120-seater picnic area and 10 chalets at Shai Hills, plus 20 rooms and a restaurant at
Mole National Park.
These projects will create revenue, jobs, and pride.
Ghanaians must also visit.
If we don’t value our parks, we can’t expect investors to.
The minister called galamsey “a defining environmental battle of our generation.”
“The era of impunity is over.
Government must continue to pursue every individual, every financier, and every criminal syndicate that profits from the destruction of our environment.
The law must be applied without fear or favour.
That must be the standard.
No sacred cows.
No political interference.
Prosecute financiers, not just diggers.
Seize assets. Publish names.
He is right to call on chiefs, pastors, imams, media, and citizens.
History will judge our generation by how we responded to this defining challenge.
Let it be said that we chose courage over complacency.
Revoking E.I 144 is a victory.
But it must not be the end.
Use this moment to do three things: Gazette and demarcate all forest reserves with clear signposts and GPS coordinates.
No ambiguity. Publish a public register of all forest land transactions since 2017.
Where wrongs were done, reverse them.
Fund the Forestry Commission properly so enforcement, reclamation, and ecotourism are not donor-dependent.
Achimota Forest is safe today because citizens spoke up and government listened.
That is how democracy and conservation should work.
“The Ghanaian spirit is stronger.
We will not retreat.
We will not relent.
We will not surrender,” the Minister said.
Let those words guide us.
Let us reclaim our rivers, restore our forests, and secure a greener, stronger Ghana for generations yet unborn.
Achimota has been saved.
Now let’s save the rest.
