Water Resources Commission Act, 1996 (Act 522) (Part 4)

 This law created the Water Resources Commission (WRC) to manage Ghana’s water bodies, including rivers, lakes, and underground water. It ensures fair and sustainable use

of water resources and prevents their misuse or pollution.

Purpose: To protect water bodies and promote responsible access to clean water for domestic, agricul­tural, and industrial use.

Forests Protection Act, 1974

(NRCD 243)

This law was enacted to prevent illegal logging, forest encroach­ment, and bushfires. It empowers the government to declare forest reserves and penalise those who destroy or

degrade forests.

Purpose: To conserve Ghana’s forest cover, protect biodiversity, and promote reforestation

efforts.

Minerals and Mining Act, 2006

(Act 703)

This law regulates the mining sector in Ghana. It outlines the procedures for acquiring mining licenses, environmental obligations of mining companies, and penal­ties for illegal

mining (like Galamsey).

It mandates responsible mining that does not destroy the environ­ment or pollute water bodies.

Purpose: To ensure that mining is done legally, safely, and sustain­ably, without harming people or the environment.

Land Use and Spatial Planning

Act, 2016 (Act 925).

This Act replaced earlier plan­ning laws and provides a compre­hensive framework for land devel­opment in Ghana.

It requires all building projects to comply with approved land-use plans and prevents construction in flood-prone areas, wetlands, and water courses.

Purpose: To promote orderly de­velopment of cities and towns, and to prevent environmental disasters like flooding.

Local Governance Act, 2016

(Act 936)

This Act gives Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) the power to manage environmental sanitation, waste disposal, and land-use control within their

jurisdictions.

Assemblies can issue by-laws to tackle local environmental prob­lems.

Purpose: To make local author­ities responsible for enforcing environmental cleanliness

and safety at the community level.

These statutes are essential tools in the fight against environmental degradation in Ghana. When en­forced properly and supported by citizen awareness and Islamic environmental ethics they can lead to cleaner, greener, and safer com­munities for current and future generations.

Also, these laws provide frame­works for regulating land use, min­ing, forestry, water quality, and sanitation. Enforcement of these statutes must be strengthened to combat environmental abuse.

By Imam Alhaji Saeed Abdulai, the Author