I hail from Cape Coast, the capital city of the Central Region of Ghana and home to about a quarter million people. Recently, my city and other communities in the Central Region have suffered acute shortage of drinking water due to the pollution of water bodies by illegal small-scale miners, known locally as Galamsey. The devastating phenomenon of Galamsey has caused indiscriminate degradation of forest reserves, farmlands, and water bodies.  Galamsey also fosters arms proliferation, which undermine the peace and security of local communities and the country at large.

The effects of Galamsey pervades nearly every corner of the country polluting nearly 60% of all freshwater. Experts have cautioned that Ghana might be compelled to import drinking water by 2030 if Galamsey is not urgently addressed. Furthermore the high levels of toxicity of water bodies caused by the discharge of cyanide and mercury, have been linked to the surge in kidney and skin diseases, birth defects, and other severe long-term health complications, which undermine poverty alleviation efforts and social wellbeing. Economically, Galamsey devastates farmlands, leading to declining harvests and exports of key cash crops such as Cocoa, Cashew, and Rubber, as hectares of arable land become contaminated wastelands in the destructive trail of illegal miners.

The unprecedented ecological destruction by a greedy few must stop. We can no longer be silent as the enduring forests tempering the harsh semi-arid Sahel and the Atlantic Ocean are depleted, neither can we ignore the devastation to biodiversity. In the context of Climate change and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the commitment of nations including Ghana to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure peace and prosperity for all, this petition is imperative.

We demand immediate action by political and state actors in Ghana, the West African sub-region, and the global community against the excesses of greed and impunity, and arrest the unfolding ecocide. We appeal with the international community of Nations, particularly the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to urge the repeal of the deleterious law - L.I. 2462 and E.I. 144 by the Government of Ghana sanctioning mining activities in forest reserves and sensitive ecological areas. 

Sign and share this petition. Together, we can end the ecocide of Galamsey.