Mahama vows to permanently end mining in forests with bold legal reforms
Speaking during an address marking the first 120 days of his second term, President Mahama outlined a comprehensive five-point strategy to eliminate illegality and environmental harm in the mining sector.
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President John Dramani Mahama has taken a decisive step to safeguard Ghana’s natural environment by announcing a permanent ban on mining within forest reserves. As part of an ambitious reform agenda, he revealed plans to amend the Minerals and Mining Act to make such activities explicitly illegal.
Speaking during an address marking the first 120 days of his second term, President Mahama outlined a comprehensive five-point strategy to eliminate illegality and environmental harm in the mining sector.
“In these initial months, we’ve launched a bold and structured five-point plan to sanitize the mining industry,” he said. The strategy includes tightening regulatory oversight, ramping up law enforcement through joint task forces, seizing illegal mining equipment, engaging stakeholders, and reclaiming lands ravaged by illegal mining.
He noted that substantial progress has already been made, with illegal miners driven out of seven of the nine affected forest reserves, and restoration efforts underway.
A key milestone in this reform effort is the introduction of Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 2462 to Parliament on March 20, 2025. This regulation aims to amend the existing Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations by eliminating the presidential prerogative to authorize mining in such protected areas.
“Through L.I. 2462, we’re removing the provision that allows the president to approve mining in forest reserves,” Mahama said.
Building on this momentum, he further announced an imminent amendment to the Minerals and Mining Act, 2003 (Act 703), which will outlaw mining in forest reserves altogether.
“I intend to revise Act 703 to explicitly and permanently ban all forms of mining in forest reserves. This legal change will make the ban comprehensive and irreversible,” he declared.
The president’s initiative is aimed at reversing years of environmental degradation caused by unregulated mining, conserving biodiversity, and restoring Ghana’s ecological balance.
