To End Galamsey And Illegal Logging Parliament Must Pass Tough New Laws With Mandatory Long Jail Terms - Without The Possibility Of Parole

This year's International Day of Forests was observed on Thursday, 21 March. And, as always, World Water Day (an annual UN observance day), fell on 22 March.

It was heartening to see just how  concerned so many ordinary people (who were interviewed by the  media  in vox populi  news reports), clearly were, about the increasing lawlessness resulting in the denuding of forest reserves nationwide, and destruction of the watersheds they contain, which has led to the tragic  loss of vital ecosystem services they provide for society that  ensure our overall well-being, as a people.

This year, I made a conscious decision  not to pen any articles, to mark either of the two above-mentioned important annual international environmental events  - so I could monitor  how the Ghanaian media  would contribute to environmental-awareness-creation amongst our younger generations:  emphasising the importance  of protecting Mother Nature, across the entire landmass,  of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Ghana.

Judging by their reportage, the media in Ghana must be commended for using their platforms - on both days - to highlight  the existential  threats facing our forest reserves and sources of our treated drinking water supply. It made many Ghanaians aware, of the egregious nationwide environmental  degradation, which we are now contending with, across vast swathes of the GhanaIan countryside.

In the main, the media generally focused on the many factors that are combining to threaten what is left of our nation's  fast-dwindling natural heritage - on the aforementioned global observance days - with stories  from media professionals, reporting  from denuded sites in forest reserves, with some vividly highlighting threats to  the watersheds they contain.

If we are to succeed in halting illegal logging, and  permanently ending galamsay operations in our nation's forest reserves, we must incentivise those who tip-off the authorities, when they come across illegal logging and galamsay operations,  by rewarding them handsomely, financially. Tough new laws must be passed - under certificates of ugency by Parliament - to make illegal logging and galamsay serious crimes punishable by mandatory 25-year jail sentences: without the possiblilty of parole. Ever.

Those new laws must specify, in clear and unambiguous language, the compulsory seizure, and forfeiture, of all equipment (including even hired equipment such as excavators, tipper trucks, flatbed low-loaders, chainsaws, etc., etc.) used by those involved in galamsay operations and illegal logging.

All such siezed  equipment,  must immediately  be forfeited  to the state, and sold  by transparent public auction, with  same being widely advertised in the media, across the nation,  with a substantial amount of the proceeds going to the whistleblowers,  whose tip-offs  made the arrests of those greedy and callous  criminals possible. Enough is enough. Haaba.