The acting Minister for Environment, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, has laid a new instrument in Parliament to revoke L.I. 2462 which gives the President authority to grant licence for mining in forest reserves.
Once it matures after 21 days and is approved, the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) (Revocation) Instrument, 2025 will permanently strip the President of unilateral powers to issue mining permits in forests.
The new instrument follows an earlier amendment to LI 2462, which received massive backlash from the public aa government was criticised for failing its promise to entirely revoke the law.
Laying the LI before Parliament on October 31, Mr Buah, who is also the Lands and Natural Resources Minister said the move demonstrates government’s commitment to the fight against illegal mining.
“You recall LI 2462 which was enacted November 2022 to ensure that environmental management principles are legally enforced in mining operations in forest reserves. Public outcry led to an amendment of that LI by deleting regulation 3.2 to effectively limiting the president’s power. The new LI, LI 2504 was entered into force June 2, 2025.
However, in the light of current circumstances, it has become expedient to revoke LI 2504 and going forward exploration and mining operations in forest reserve by legalized mining will be undertaken using guidelines reviewed in 2022 until a new LI is considered,” he explained.
Reacting to the new development, Awula Serwah of Eco-Conscious Citizens welcomed the development.
He however, noted that it does not address the challenges posed by the effects of illegal mining.
“We are pleased that the LI has been laid in Parliament. But let us remember that LI 2462 is about license to mine in the forest, but there are people decimating the forests. They are not waiting for licenses. So that is a matter that we must deal with as a matter of extreme urgency. The illegal irresponsible miners are still in our forests, they are poisoning our water bodies. Although we are happy that LI 2462 has been laid before Parliament, we are still concerned that we are on the verge of ecological disaster,” she stressed.
