Economic activities have continued to pose threats to forests in Africa. Several forests of the 1920s and before are on their way out, booking their memoirs in pictures and history books.
Atewa Forest located in South Eastern Ghana is one that supports a wealth of rare and endemic wildlife. The forest also standing on the Atewa range provides clean water for nearby cities and supplies the ecosystem the needed canopy.
Meanwhile, the Ghanaian government plans to mine for bauxite in the area and this activity may destroy the forest with ripples effect that certainly wouldn’t be palatable to the ecosystem.
Stakeholders in the conservation world may have to wade into this looming crisis. While mining bauxite would improve the Ghanaian economy, destruction of the forest would deplete the ecosystem.
However, according to www.birdlife.org in its update, “Despite cautions from the U.S. Forest Service, on May 30 the Government of Ghana began creating access roads into Atewa Forest Reserve in preparation for the bauxite mining.”
This means the government is ready to displace some plant and animal lives who have found natural habitat in Atewa over the centuries.
It is not certain whether the fight of local and foreign conservationists would hold water after all as the government appears ready to strike.
A Rocha Ghana, Ghana Wildlife Society and other CSOs are struggling to save the numerous wildlife waiting to be ejected after this forest is defiled.
Meanwhile, a petition is being signed by concerned nature lovers still fighting to save this unique forest. You can help by signing the petition and spreading the word using #AtewaForest and #SaveAtewa4Water
Atewa Hills was designated in 1926 as a Forest Reserve to protect its value as watershed source but today, over 100 species the area is sheltering are threatened including over 227 species of birds.
apart from looming destruction of the forest and subsequent implications, there is the worry from some quarters about the economic decision which many felt was not well throughout.
Beneath the Atewa soil lies approximately 150million tones of bauxite used in aluminum production. The government plans to mine from that deposit to support infrastructural development but some are worried as the bauxite deposit will be used as a mortgage to the Chinese to fund the country’s development drive.
However, groups including A Rocha Ghana, Friends of the Earth Ghana, West African Primate Conservation Action, Ghana Wildlife Society (BirdLife Partner), and others are opposing the government’s plan. The groups are advocating the government changes the policy and preserve the forest according to the plan since 1925.
Also called the Atiwa-Atwaredu Ranges, the forest is located in the Akyem Abuakwa region of southeastern Ghana near Kibi, a growing town and nearby Kwau Plateau which is boundary of the great lake Volta.
The range runs roughly north-south, consisting of steep-sided hills with fairly flat summits. It is the last remains ancient bauxite soils. The range is the site of an important forest reserve and source of three main rives.
