The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Armah Kofi Buah, has disclosed that 44 out of Ghana’s 288 forest reserves have been completely destroyed by illegal mining activities, popularly known as galamsey.

Speaking at a Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources retreat in the Western Region, the minister warned that the scale of destruction poses a serious threat to the nation’s environmental and economic security.

He revealed that nine of the devastated reserves have become red zones, now inaccessible due to the presence of armed foreign miners.

According to Hon. Armah Kofi Buah, over 6,000 hectares of forest reserves, equivalent to nearly 8,000 football fields, have been destroyed, with reclamation expected to cost the country billions of dollars. He identified the Ashanti, Western, and Western North Regions as the most affected.

To address the menace, the minister stated that the government will complete stakeholder consultations on the draft Forest Wildlife Resource Management Bill, strengthen forest protection measures, and recruit more forest guards.

He stressed the urgent need to protect and properly equip these guards, noting that some have been attacked and others have lost their lives in the line of duty.

"Is exactly one year when the Vice President visited and we there we were told 44 has completely impacted, exhibited by illegal miners and with never stating effect we were told that 9 of them were in red zones which we couldn't enter.

"The were taking over by armed guns mostly foreign guns that is over 5500, infact later it has been revised to over 6000 hectares of our forest reserves equivilance to almost 8000 football fields has been completely destroyed that we need billions of dollars to reclaim this land.

"We were told that there are three regions that the createness are describing is on the top, the Ashanti Region, Western Region and the Western North. This year we'll be continuing plant tree for life about Ghc20 million we're targeting," he assured.