Western Region to flush out illegal miners from reserves
The Western Regional Security Committee (REGSEC) has decided to flush out illegal gold miners from forest reserves in the region, the Regional Minister, Mr E.K.T. Addo, has stated.
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He said the region was endowed with large forest reserves in the country, hence the need to manage them properly.
Mr Addo said this when he paid a working visit to the regional office of the Forestry Division of the Forestry Commission in Takoradi, as part of his tour of various departments in the region.
Western Region has a total land area of 24,040 square kilometres, representing 10 per cent of the national land area. It has 48 forest reserves, covering a land area of 7,667 square kilometres which represents 32 per cent of the regional land area.
It has a production area of 5,263 square kilometres; a plantation area of 4,045 square kilometres and a protection area of 2,363.09 square kilometres.
Mr Addo said Ghanaians knew the importance of forests and that the REGSEC was ready to assist the Forestry Division of the Forestry Commission to ensure that all the forest reserves were protected. He urged the division to embark on public education campaigns to sensitise people to appreciate the importance of the forest reserves and the need to protect them.
“There is the need to expand our education to reach more people to enable them to understand what a forest is and this will go a long way to protect our forests,” he added.
The regional minister also appealed to the staff of the Forestry Division to protect the forests, since they earned their living from the division.
The Western Regional Manager of the Forestry Division of the Forestry Commission, Mrs Lydia Opoku, said the region was managing about 60 per cent of the country’s timber resources and added that the region had seven forest districts, namely: Takoradi, Enchi, Asankragwa, Tarkwa, Sefwi Wiawso, Juaboso and Bia.
She explained that the Bia Forest Reserve and Ankasa Conservation area were being managed by the Wildlife Division, while the others were managed by the Forestry Division.
Mrs Opoku also said more than 2,000 hectares out of the plantation area had been planted under the Plantation Development Project, and more than 1,000 plantation workers had been employed.
She mentioned some of the challenges facing the division as illegal gold mining and farming in most of the forest reserves, particularly the Krokosua and Sui forest reserves.
By Kwame Asiedu-Marfo/Daily Graphic/Ghana