On several fronts, Ghanaian scientists have raised objections to illegal small-scale mining in the country, a practice also known as ”galamsey.” The common reasons adduced against the practice include the naked destruction to the physical environment, pollution of water bodies and the fact that it had caused the removal of cocoa trees.
Nobody seems to talk about the damaging effect of galamsey on unique tree species and for that matter the biodiversity found in the wild but which mining had caused their removal and might never be traced again.
Providing that important cover against the wanton destruction of vegetation are two institutes of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR. The Plant Genetic Resource Research Institute (PGRRI) and the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) are the silent operational agencies that protect the heritage of biodiversity by keeping their duplicates before originals in the wild are tampered with or destroyed. The two institutions which serve as plant banks, either preserve and maintain the species in the seed form or propagate their duplicates in the open field.
What the researchers do is operate in advance of any activity that hampers forest estates by picking samples or specimens for storage.
Illegal mining which is construed as a practice without prior notice for official permission that takes into account all the necessary precautions, is invariably undertaken in haste and acting like an amoral force, wipes the vegetative cover before plunging beneath the brown earth in search of the gold mineral. The miners’ actions have caused collateral damage to biodiversity or erased the variety of life from their natural habitats.
The Scientists of CSIR have warned that the negative effects of galamsey call for the urgent cessation of their rampagious activities or Ghana could face a resource holocaust in the future. In warning miners, others like road contractors, real estate developers, and unapproved bush burners are also reminded to follow the rules for they scrape off prime forest estates to make way for projects.
One study by the Soil Research Institute also of the CSIR found that a residential settlement had taken the position of arable land and left the poor soil for farming purposes.
The Green Ghana project in which the government has scaled up afforestation in the country may contact the CSIR-PGRRI and FORIG for advice on species that may be planted for restoration and resilience through scientific propagation.