Over 7 hectares of forest land or an equivalent of seven football pitches have been destroyed by illegal miners in Oda Forest Reserve in the Amansie Central District in the Ashanti Region. Illegal miners have besieged the Oda River which is in the Forest Reserve leaving officials of the Forestry Commission helpless.
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, led a team from the Lands ministry and the Forestry Commission to the forest reserve to assess the extent of damage and assured that he would immediately deploy security operatives to the area to protect the forest from further destruction.