LEG trains volunteers on environmental laws

Participants

Aware of the need to promote environmental justice and com­munity rights in mining communi­ties in the country, the Livelihood and Environment Ghana (LEG) has organised a two-day training programme for its Voluntary Community Facilitators (VCFs).

The VCFs, who were selected from the major mining-affected commu­nities in the country (seven mining regions), were taken through ethical reporting and Ghana’s minerals and mining laws to enable them to be abreast of issues on community rights, including the right to safe and clean water, sanitation, compensation, and resettlement issues, as well as af­forestation and restoration projects, which are core focus areas of LEG.

The VCFs would serve as intermedi­aries between their communities and the LEG to ensure an environment free from all forms of pollution to enhance sustainable development, community livelihoods, transparent mineral gover­nance, and environmental sustainabil­ity.

The training, which was organised by LEG in collaboration with the Third World Network Africa (TWN-Africa), was sponsored by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the Power of Voices Project (PVP) and Fair4ALL Programme.

The Executive Director (ED) of LEG, Mr. Richard Adjei-Poku, pointed out in a presentation that “our main goal is to promote environmental sustainability, community rights, sustainable liveli­hoods, and mineral governance.”

He noted that the NGO had trained many people in the mining commu­nities in Ghana on transparency and accountability to enable them to hold their leaders and the companies oper­ating in their respective communities accountable and responsible.

Mr. Adjei-Poku told the participants to take the training seriously to be in a better position to gather accurate information on issues pertaining to en­vironmental threats and human rights violations in the mining communities.

Mr. Kingsley E. Hope, Chairperson of the Ghana Journalists Association in the Ashanti Region also explained the importance of ethical reporting to the participants, saying it was a process of transparency.

“Fundamental to proper, profession­al, and ethical conduct is the intent to be honest, accurate, and complete when providing required information,” he said.

Some of the participants said the training had given them more insights into how to gather and disseminate accurate information on mining laws.

LEG, a Non-Governmental Organisa­tion (NGO) was established in 2004 in Ahafo Kenyasi Number 2 to respond to the growing social, environmental, and human rights threats from the New­mont Ahafo Mine, which now operates in seven regions, namely, the Bono, Ahafo, Central, Eastern, Western, Ashanti, and Western North regions.

It promotes environmental jus­tice, community rights, sustainable livelihoods, and mineral governance, particularly in the extractive and forest sectors

From Kingsley E. Hope, Kumasi