Proposed bauxite mining would be located in the Atewa Forest Range, which was internationally recognized as a Globally Significant Biodiversity Area in 1999 as part of Ghana’s commitments to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The Atewa Forest is a Protected Forest Reserve under Ghanaian law.
The Atewa Forest contains critical habitat for a number of vulnerable and critically endangered species, including the White-naped Mangabey, Afia Birago Puddle Frog, and the rare Atewa Dotted Border butterfly.
The Atewa Forest is one of the last in-tact remaining old growth forests in Ghana.
The Atewa Forest is the source of the Densu, Birim and Ayensu Rivers, free-flowing rivers which provide water to over five million Ghanaians. Any mining activities would pollute and dramatically interrupt their natural flow and watershed functions.
The Atewa Forest contains sacred groves and traditional burial grounds for both Chiefs and local community members. Traditional and indigenous communities have strong cultural attachment to the forest and lineage in the area. There are also sacred animals (known as totems) to indigenous communities. The traditional territory of the Okyenhene and his people includes part of Atewa Forest.
The Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Project is located in Ghana’s iconic Atewa Range Forest. This project proposes opening up Atewa Forest for bauxite mining. Due to the inherent location of this project, bauxite mining will require destroying swaths of Atewa Forest, which is widely considered Ghana’s “crown jewel”. The Atewa Range Forest is an upland forest ecosystem and one of Ghana’s last remaining intact forests. It is a critical source of water for over five million Ghanaians, and ensuring the integrity of Atewa forest is vital for maintaining healthy watershed functions. However, bauxite mining will likely pollute this vital water source with toxic heavy metals. Atewa Forest is also home to several endemic and critically endangered species such as the White-naped Mangabey and Afia Birago Puddle Frog. Any habitat loss may lead to extinction.
Local dissent is strong: forest communities do not want the bauxite mining as it would pollute their water, land, and clean air, and cause loss of livelihoods. Furthermore, project developers have not consulted communities living in the forest. Ghanaian groups are demanding that Atewa Range Forest be excluded from sites targeted for the bauxite mining development project and all project agreements, and for the protection status of Atewa Forest to be upgraded to that of National Park.
A Rocha Ghana, together with six other civil society organistions and several individual citizens of Ghana, is suing the Ghana Government over its drilling of 53 exploration wells across the Atewa Range Forest and its proposed bauxite mining plans for the forest. The Attorney General responded in September 2020 denying all the key paragraphs in the Statement of Claim. The case is now waiting for a hearing date at Ghana’s High Court of Justice. The President stated in October that plans for mining Atewa Range Forest are far advanced, but lack of information means it is difficult to know the real extent of the project’s progress.
