Africa centre to promote legal and sustainable small-scale mining (ACMMSD) in Ghana launched
Date: 2023-03-09
The Africa Centre for Minerals, Mining, and
Sustainable Development (ACMMSD), a Centre with the purpose of promoting legal
and sustainable mining, especially small-scale mining of minerals in Ghana has
been launched in Accra.
In a press release to mark the launch, the
Executive Secretary of the Centre, Edwin Letsa K. Kpedor underscored the
importance of the Centre in ensuring stakeholders in the extractive sector
understand and adopt sustainable means in the mining of minerals to ensure our
environment is protected, preserved, and re-claimed following successful
small-scale mining activities.
“In our communities today, we are experiencing
the negative effects of illegal and unsustainable mining practices on our water
bodies, forests, farms, and communities. Therefore, the focus of the Centre is
to support stakeholders engaged in the regulation, supervision, and small-scale
mining of minerals to adopt new sustainable practices to ensure we reverse the
current trends of environmental degradation, water bodies pollution, and forest
destruction as being witnessed across our mining communities.”
He further noted that the role of the Centre will
be to “coordinate the practical implementation of legal and sustainable mining
solutions and consolidate interventions that seek to promote sustainable
livelihoods, particularly for women and young people in the mining communities
across Ghana”.
The release further noted that the Centre is
committed to harnessing resources to drive the regulation and supervision,
advocacy, training, support, and stakeholder engagements across the various
mining communities especially in the Ashanti, Eastern, Central, and West-North
regions of Ghana.
“Our initial assessment of the small-scale mining
regime across the country revealed these regions are the hotspots for illegal
(galamsey) and unsustainable mining practices and we seek to prioritize our
activities in these regions,” Mr. Kpedor noted.
Richard Nunekpeku, Director for Programmes and Projects
Commenting on the Centre’s planned activities,
Richard Nunekpeku, Director for Programmes and Projects noted that, “the Centre
will provide direct training and capacity building to key stakeholders such as
small-scale miners, traditional authorities, officers of district assemblies
and related service providers to improve their knowledge of the use of legal
and sustainable mining practices.”
Additionally, the Centre will undertake research
and publication, advocacy, engage in policy formulation and provide technical
and financial support programmes to small-scale miners in its operational
communities.
“Our approach will be to provide comprehensive
support services which will help stakeholders to commit fully to the adaptation
of sustainable practices that deliver results. We recognize the need to
facilitate the availability of legal, regulatory, training, land management,
mining, and sustainable community development support programs and are
committed to doing these as part of our engagement programmes and initiatives,”
Mr. Nunekpeku said.
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