President Nana Akufo-Addo has assured that the fight against environmental degradation will continue despite the setbacks.
According to him, processes have begun to improve legislation on environmental degradation.
Speaking at a meeting with the leadership of the Association of Independent Churches in Accra, President Akufo-Addo said the government is “trying to improve the legislative framework for dealing with environmental issues.”
“You know the efforts that we are making to preserve our countryside and to preserve the purity of our water bodies; another very big struggle, but one we are forced to do because we have to think of the future.”
There has been cause for concern from environmental observes as Ghana is said to have recorded a 60 percent rise in forest loss between 2017 and 2018, according to the Global Forest Watch.
This rate of forest cover loss is the highest in the world and more than twice that of next country, neighbouring Ivory Coast; which lost 26 percent.
On the illegal mining front, there is also concern that that government efforts have yielded little result some two years after an intensive campaign which saw a ban on all forms of small scale mining.
Videos and images of some water bodies across the country show the deterioration in the quality of the water despite the ban.
This also raised questions about the effectiveness of the anti-illegal mining taskforce and inter-ministerial committee on Environment and Natural Resources.
Pressure has also mounted on the government to dissolve the Inter-ministerial Committee on illegal mining, following what has largely been considered as a lost fight against illegal mining.
The latest calls came from among others Artisanal and Small-scale Mining Africa Network (ASMAN).
The Media Coalition against illegal mining also described the fight against illegal mining as an ailing one.
The Convener of the group, Ken Ashigbey blamed this on the lenient sentences handed to persons arrested for engaging in illegal mining.