Illegal felling of rose wood depletes forest cover of Ghana
Four minutes read
· Coupled with heavy mining, this growing malady (felling of
trees) is adding to the pollution woes of the country (Ghana)
· An ordinary Ghanaian citizen is up against the amorous
cocktail of both (mining and felling of trees), which they term in
their colloquial lingo as “galamsey”. The movement against pollution
is gradually picking up and even threatening to upset the political
discourse
Ghana, could be one of the picturesque countries in Africa, endowed
with rich flora and fauna. If whatever you could find on the surface
of its soil is not awesome, the riches embedded underneath the soil is
fabulous, to say the least. Gold, diamonds, bauxite, manganese etc
would have made the colonizers rich, but the Western African country
is still beset with basic problems. The only saving grace is that the
country is somewhat ahead of others in the continent as far as the
human development index is concerned. Added to that is the high level
of pollution contributed by both legal and illegal mining. Once upon a
time, the country boasted of its rich and flourishing green cover,
trees that can tell stories beyond even centuries and thick forests
that provided livelihood to its people. Are they still the story being
retold by the older folks there?
As it woes are not enough, another malady that is having a heavy toll
on the country is the illegal felling of logs, particularly its
precious rose wood, which command a fortune outside the peripherals of
the country sandwiched between Togo and Ivory Coast. Coupled with
heavy mining, this growing malady is adding to the pollution woes of
the country. It is not alone the rich and privileged, who complain
about it. An ordinary Ghanaian citizen is up against the amorous
cocktail of both, which they term in their colloquial lingo as
“galamsey”. The movement against pollution is gradually picking up and
even threatening to upset the political discourse . That is why the
government has formed a taskforce to combat the scourge. This is more
widespread in the northern region of the country, where savannah
forests are there inhabited largely by poor.
It is not that the nefarious nexus were not unearthed. Media rode
roughshod over the scams quite periodically. A journalist named
Emmanuel Dogbevi had bought out a shocking expose on the timber scam
mainly involving rose wood, which are taken illegally outside the
country.
The other resource that is threatened is illegal logging which
effectively affects Ghana’s forest cover as people under the cover of
deceit and of official collusion fell endangered trees and ship them
out of the country. He gave visual evidence of illegal felling of
trees, which the government tried to overlook or they did not have the
machinery to combat. Before that, there was a BBC documentary which
had chronicled the large scale logging scam. The government acted
sporadically arresting some, questioning others and that included a
rich Chinese timber trader. Some Chinese also were arrested for
illegal mining. But they were deported allegedly due to influence
exerted from powers that matter. While these things are happening at
regular intervals, the common man who has to bear the brunt of the
illegal activities is asking whether there is an end to the ordeal
they are subjected to. Should they be left to curse their destiny all
the time? Sooner there should be strict government action in ending
this unholy nexus of timber and mine mafia, who are playing havoc with
the life of the innocent lot.
