Declassifying Achimota Forest Reserve And Grant Of Leases To Owoo Family....
. . . . .Unacceptable And Must Be Reversed
1. We have observed with grave concern and disappointment, the issuance by government of Executive Instruments 144 and 154 relative to the Achimota Forest Reserve. These instruments, if enforced, would decrease the cover of the only forest reserve in Accra in a manner never witnessed in the history of the reserve. It is no gainsaying that, impervious land cover (such as buildings, roads, cleared lands among others) in the reserve has been growing more rapidly to the detriment of the forest cover in the last three decades.
For instance, Tuffuor-Mills and Addo-Fordjour (2020) estimate that, 59.34% of the Achimota forest reserve was lost to impervious cover between 1991 and 2015.This obviously gloomy trend, one would expect, would guide the actions of government.
Unfortunately, it turns out government has other motivations other than the protection and preservation of Accra’s only forest reserve.
2. This singular action by government does not only offend our collective effort at environmental sustainability, but it undermines our commitment to major international instruments, protocols and agreements. One such instruments that leaps readily to mind is SDG 15.
We are enjoined by this goal among others, to sustainably manage our forests, halt and reverse land degradation. In particular, we are expected to achieve 0.0 target in permanent deforestation - permanent deforestation is described as “tree cover removal for urbanization, commodity production and certain types of small-scale agriculture”. Ghana’s performance on this indicator stood at 0.8 as of 2018 (Sachs et al 2021). This reflects how badly we are protecting our forest cover.
With this state, it is expected that, government’s actions toward the few urban forest reserves we have especially Accra’s, would be to achieve one end only-their protection. That is why we find the Executive Instruments obnoxious in the superlative.
3. The conduct of government in the matter and the justifications advanced for the release of 361.5 acres of land to the Owoo family, have left a whole lot to be desired. The Minister in his 17th May 2022 press conference, staked the claim that, an agreement had been reached in 2013 to hand over the “peripheral” parts of the forest to the Owoo family. And that, EI 144 merely gave effect to this agreement.
These claims raise the following questions to which we demand answers:
· was the agreement to lease the land to the Owoo family a function of some legal process or moral suasion?
· if it were an appeal to the good conscience of government, was government bound to honour their request?
· how did government come to the determination of 361.5 acres when as the Minister’s account and indeed the family’s own statement in 2008 (can be found on https://www.modernghana.com/news/188637/nii-owoo-family-denies-sale-of-achimota-forest.html) show, the petition was for 90 acres?
· what constitutes peripheral of a forest reserve? And are all the 361.5 acres part of the so defined peripheral?
· should the Ministry of lands and natural resources and allied institutions not be more concerned with environmental sustainability instead of urbanisation?
4. It is our considered view that, the protection of Accra’s only forest reserve in its entirety is non-negotiable. We cannot accept and we will not allow such characterisations as “peripheral portions” be used as the pretext to destroy the forest cover for private gain.
Indeed, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and Forestry Commission should be taking steps to recover all encroached lands in the forest reserve instead of handing over more lands from the reserve to private individuals.
5. Furthermore, we hold the view that, the Owoo family does not deserve any part of the Achimota Forest. And that, all leases allegedly granted to that family must be revoked. The reserve is our common resource and cannot be sacrificed in part or in whole to satisfy any private claim especially when such claim is not in our view grounded in law. We must guard and preserve the entire reserve for our own benefit and the benefit of future generations.
Meanwhile, we reject the apparent notion loudly albeit subtly articulated by the Minister for lands and natural resources that, because they find no evidence of any compensation payment to the Owoo family for the 1927 acquisition, grant of the so-called leases and the subsequent Executive Instruments have a fair grounding.
6. In view of the above and other issues, we demand that government reverses the Executive Instruments 144 and 154 respectively.
7. We further demand that, all leases purportedly granted to the Owoo family and all other sub-leases, be revoked immediately.
8. All portions of the reserve that have been encroached upon be recovered followed by an aggressive reafforestation program to redeem the Achimota forest.
9. We call on all major political stakeholders and the clergy to speak up against this needless, opaque and unconscionable attempt to decrease the forest cover of Accra’s only forest reserve.
We also call on Ghana’s development partners particularly those involved in sustainable development to hold government to account for its decision to deforest a huge part of Accra’s only forest reserve without justifiable basis.
10. Finally, we like to state that, if government does not rescind its decision to declassify those parts of the Achimota forest reserve named in the Schedule of EI 144 in the shortest possible time, Mass Action Committee will be forced to employ other means within the law to defend our only forest in the capital city of Accra.
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