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ACCRA — Rampant illegal gold mining in a critical forest reserve in southwestern Ghana is discharging heavy metals into coastal waters, threatening rare wildlife and undermining a newly inaugurated marine protected area, local environmental groups warned.
The influx of illicit mining, locally known as galamsey, inside the Greater Cape Three Points Forest Reserve is washing mercury, arsenic, and cyanide through the Nyan River and directly into the Gulf of Guinea. The toxic runoff threatens to disrupt the 700-square-kilometer Cape Three Points Marine Protected Area, which was established in April 2026 to help recover West Africa’s depleted fish stocks.
“The destruction is phenomenal,” said Stephen Kankam, deputy director at Hεn Mpoano, a Ghanaian coastal management non-governmental organization. “There is clearing of large swaths of the forest areas that have paved the way for digging, for excavation, and all sorts of operations within the forest. All those areas where the fish stay within the near-shore environment are affected.”
The 45-square-kilometer inland reserve home to threatened species including endangered grey parrots, white-naped mangabeys, and critically endangered Roloway monkeys has suffered accelerated land degradation over the past six months, according to environmental monitors on the ground.
Local communities and agricultural producers are also experiencing fallout as polluted river water contaminates irrigation sources for nearby crop fields.
“The communities are greatly affected and some of their vegetables are affected,” said Charles Afosah, local project lead for West African Primate Conservation Action, who conducts patrols in the region. “We don’t know where some of these foodstuffs in the market will land.”
Conservationists pointed to weak enforcement by local law authorities and the absence of the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) in the reserve as key drivers of the expanding crisis. In response, environmental groups are urging Ghana’s Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to transfer oversight of the reserve to the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission, which deploys armed personnel.
“They will serve as a deterrent, but they will also be a mechanism to reach out to nearby areas where mining is happening,” Kankam said, advocating for permanent enforcement camps inside the reserve to halt further environmental degradation.
