A communique, which has been presented to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor stressed the need for the government to institute "an immediate, comprehensive assessment of the local environmental impact of the activities of small-scale mining, which was detrimental to waterbodies, rural development and sustainable livelihoods.

The communique stressed that the assessment of the impact of galamsey on the environment should take into account the possibility of imposing a moratorium on small-scale mining to protect waterbodies "because water cannot accommodate irresponsible mining."

The Co-Chair of the conference, Benito Owusu-Bio, led a team to present the communiqué to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, yesterday.

The communique, which was composed at the end of the Land Conference held last month, touches on 11 thematic areas, including improving security of land tenure; review of the national land policy of 1999; dealing with land-related sustainable development goals (SDGs); and restoration of lands degraded through illegal mining.

It also touches on areas such as review of the National Land Policy of 1999; proper human settlement development; capacity development of key institutions in the built environment; improving survey, mapping, spatial planning and development; and improving security of land tenure.

Mr Owusu-Bio said the leadership of the conference was convinced that if the government implemented those recommendations, it would ensure that all obstacles to effective land administration would be removed to promote sustainable national development.

He said the communique had been put together after the conference had three impactful high-level policy dialogue and over 20 presentations by key stakeholders during the technical sessions.

"While we are working to finalise the conference proceedings report, we hope that you will find the content of this communique worthy of implementation to help revolutionarise land management and governance in the country," he said.

Commitment

Mr Jinapor commended the leaders of the conference for the work done and assured them that steps would be taken to implement the recommendations to help transform the country’s land administration.

The minister observed that the new Land Act and the communique would serve as a good guide to the ministry in its quest to build a robust regime for effective management of lands in the country.

“As a government, we have a duty to work hard and build an effective land administration that will support sustainable national development efforts. The Lands Commission has made a lot of efforts in that direction but we have not reached a satisfactory stage yet,” he said.

Mr Jinapor underscored the need for the national land conference to be institutionalised as it had the potential to promote national development.

In that regard, he said, the Lands Ministry would work with stakeholders to ensure that obstacles to effective land management were removed.