Frimpong-Boateng proposes Environmental Restoration Fund funded by mineral royalties

Former Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, has proposed the establishment of a statutory Environmental Restoration Fund outside Ghana’s regular budget cycle to finance the reclamation of mining-degraded lands and restoration of polluted water bodies.“A defined share of mineral royalties [should go] into a statutory Environmental Restoration Fund, independently governed, spent on river remediation and land reclamation, with site-level accounts published annually,” he proposed.

He wants a defined proportion of mineral royalties to be paid into the fund and used exclusively for environmental restoration, with its management and expenditure subject to independent oversight and public disclosure.