THE Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Collins Dauda, has said the ministry will adopt stringent measures to address the problem of deforestation in mining communities in the country.
That, he said, was to ensure that residents of mining communities had sustainable livelihoods.
He gave the assurance when the Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr William Williams, paid a courtesy call on him in Accra.
Alhaji Dauda identified re-afforestation as one of the areas that had not received much attention from the government and promised to carry out programmes to significantly address the phenomenon of deforestation which was fast degrading lands in the country.
“It is true that we need the minerals but the lands are being destroyed, together with the vegetation,” he stated, and indicated that the ministry would ensure that programmes on re-afforestation were effectively implemented to yield the desired results.
He acknowledged the relationship that existed between Ghana and Australia and expressed his readiness to deepen ties between the two countries.
Mr Williams expressed Australia’s commitment to address challenges in the mining sector, in view of the fact that there were some Australian companies operating in the sector.
He said he wanted to see for himself the sort of social responsibility activities that such companies were engaged in as part of measures to ensure sustained livelihoods for residents of those communities.
According to him, after taking stock of problems existing in those communities, he would seek to collaborate with the Minerals Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to figure out how best those problems could be resolved.
Mr Williams invited the minister to a mining conference to be held in Australia in September this year.
The conference, he stated, would focus on Australian companies engaged in mining activities in Africa.
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