WE WANT SPECIALIZED ENVIRONMENTAL COURTS TO SAVE OUR FORESTS AND RIVERS—Settle Ghana

 

As part of the collective obligation imposed on all stakeholders to ensure the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals especially, goal 13 (i.e. Climate Action), The Executive Director of Settle Ghana appealed to the Government of Ghana to consider setting up Environmental Courts to fast track the adjudication of offences related to the destruction of the environment. This will add to the existing efforts at protecting our water bodies and the forests.

Speaking to the media after visiting some communities in the Western Region, the Executive Secretary of Settle Ghana, Mr Abu Karim said, “the destruction of the Ghanaian forests and water bodies is no more just a galamsey menace, but rather ecocides, and the criminal activities of these ecocides must therefore be dealt with in a fast track manner.” 

He further noted that, Ghana as a signee of the SDGs has an inherent responsibility to co-ordinate all policies and programs including judicial actions to ensure a safer environment. Where specialized courts are set aside and judges given special training to handle environmentally related offences, offenders are much likely to be deterred and the prevention of a future harm to the environment will be achieved. 

Settle Ghana is a Non-Governmental Organization that defends the rights of indigenous people. The organization is a member of the Aluminum Stewardship Initiative (ASI), Initiative on Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) and Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN). 

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022 charts paints a sobering picture. Using the latest available data and estimates, it reveals that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is in grave jeopardy due to multiple, cascading and intersecting crises. Among others, climate change partly creates spin-off crises in food and nutrition, health and the environment. The activities of these ecocides glaringly poses existential threats to the environment and causes irreversible damages to the Earth’s ecosystems. 

The 2022 report further revealed that if governments and other stakeholders do not quadruple their efforts at saving our water bodies, by 2030 about 1.6 billion people will lack safely managed drinking water. This is indeed scary and must prompt government’s response to the climate change crisis, since the window to avoid a climate catastrophe is closing rapidly. 

In fulfilling our climate obligation within the remit of Global Biodiversity Framework, our call for the establishment of specialized Environmental Courts could not have been made anytime than now, the Settle Ghana CEO noted. 

The provisions of the 1992 constitution of Ghana on the protection of the natural resources; Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act, 2019(Act 995); the Environmental Protection Act, 1994 (Act 490), among other related legislations, provide adequate legal avenues and grounds for prosecution of ecocides.