The Union said it was time for the government act swiftly to save the remaining lands, water bodies and natural resources from the wanton destruction because of the galamsey menace.
A statement signed by Mr Andrews Addoquaye Tagoe, the General Secretary of GAWU and which was made available to the Ghana News Agency, said illegal mining was posing a serious threat to the country’s environment.
It noted that the prevalence of illegal mining activities had destroyed both forests and the environment, posing a serious threat to human lives and undermining investment confidence in agriculture.
GAWU said the trend had subsequently affected the export of oil palm and other cash crops onto the international market, causing Ghana a loss of about 2.3 billion United States dollars annually.
Again, thousands of hectares of cash crops had been damaged, while about 2.5 million hectares of the country’s forest reserves had also suffered massive destruction,” the statement said.
It said the situation had affected the economy through declining production in the agricultural sector and posed several health and safety hazards by the exposure of people to harmful chemicals used in these illegal mining activities.
The statement noted that currently, signs of food insecurity had started to show and would soon become a serious issue in Ghana.
“Galamsey remains a major threat to agriculture, exposing the whole nation to damning consequences like climate change and serious health implications,” GAWU noted.
The statement pointed out that, the negative effects of illegal mining had far reaching consequences on ecosystem biodiversity and natural resources and undermined the potential for sustainable economic growth.
It said GAWU, together with the TUC and Civil Society Organisations, were urging the government to invest in alternative livelihoods that provided sustainable employment opportunities to people in mining and farming communities.
The statement called on the government to take urgent steps to prosecute persons destroying cocoa farms and other cash crops for illegal mining purposes.
The called on other establishments and institutions to join hands in the fight against illegal mining to save the environment.
GNA
