You Have A Role To Play In Dealing With Nature Crimes – Deputy Lands Minister To Journalists
A two-day workshop aimed at equipping journalists with knowledge on reporting on crimes against nature has been held by the US Agency for Global Media on Wednesday, 17th August, 2022.
The training which had participants from various media houses across the country was aimed at equipping the media practitioners on how to generate story ideas and identify expert sources for reporting on nature crimes in Ghana.
Speaking at the workshop, the Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources responsible for Lands and Forestry, Hon. Benito Owusu-Bio said the Ministry is mandated to ensure sustainable management and efficient utilization of Ghana’s natural resources.
The Deputy Minister asserted that nature crimes are considered to be organised crimes due to the multiplicity of actors involved and the devastating and lasting effects they have on the environment and food security.
He highlighted some major crimes in the Forestry sector which includes; illegal logging in forest reserves, poaching of wildlife, illicit trade in wildlife and mislabeling of containers at Port amongst others.
The Deputy Minister added that a number of measures have been put in place to address these challenges. Touching on the land sector, Hon. Benito said multiple sale of parcels of lands, the landguards menace and encroachment of state lands are some key challenges faced by the land sector.
He said, a Public Lands Protection Team has been inaugurated to reclaim encroached State Lands and protect state lands from further encroachment.
Speaking on issues in the mining sector, the Minister noted that several interventions such as the declaration of river bodies as “red zones for mining”, revamp of community mining and distribution of one hundred mercury-free machines are some instructive ways government is addressing the illegal mining challenge.
Calling on all participants, the Minister urged the journalists to work in close collaboration with the Ministry as well as state and non-state institutions to harness resources to effectively deal with organised nature crimes.
Delivering her opening remarks, Ms. Nicole Chulick, DCM, U.S Embassy said ” we know nature crime harm the environment but they also harm communities by stealing resources that could benefit the local community”.
She also encouraged the media to educate communities about nature crime, stating that “you can help show the harm that nature crime do to the communities. You can also help create an understanding and ultimately prevention of nature crimes “, she added.
Present at the workshop with the Deputy Minister were the Chief Executive, Forestry Commission, Mr. John Allotey, Technical Director, Forestry Mr. Joseph Osiakwan, Technical Director, Lands, Mr. Maxwell Adu-Nsafoa, Technical Director, Mines, Mr. Peter Awuah and other officials from the Ministry.
