Photo: The action was filed with Ms Gloria Afua Akuffo (pictured), Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Ghana

A Rocha Ghana, together with other NGOs and individuals, has served a notice of civil action against the Government of Ghana over its plans to exploit the Atewa Range Forest for bauxite. Despite our numerous appeals to date, the demonstrable importance of the forest to biodiversity and water, and the protests of so many people and institutions, the Government of Ghana has shown no sign of deviating from its plans to mine Atewa. Indeed, the President himself reiterated his commitment to mining Atewa in a speech just before Christmas. This has left us with no alternative than to confront the issue through the courts.

Atewa Forest is too important a place to trade for the sake of improvements to some road junctions, as is the current plan. Only in December the IUCN published an update to its Red List and this further heightened the significance of Atewa for the conservation of threatened species. A rare frog, known only from Atewa and one other tiny fragment of forest in the SW of Ghana, has now been formally listed as Critically Endangered. And two of the monkeys known from Atewa have been given a revised listing of Critically Endangered. This is considered the highest level of threat to the existence of a species.

We still hope that the Government will withdraw from its plans for Atewa. There are other places in Ghana where bauxite can be obtained without the obvious impact on nature. Please continue to support us in our efforts to see Atewa Forest protected for future generations.