WATCH: Weeping ecosystem: Galamsey suffocates Oda River Forest Reserve

Anytime we were going to farm, we fetched water from this river. We also used it to irrigate our crops; but now, it has been heavily polluted by illegal miners, and we can no longer use it for anything. Now, we buy sachet water when we are going to farm.”

This was the chilling account by the Odikro (chief) of Abokyire, one of the forest fringe communities, Nana Akwasi Adei Boateng, as he narrated the extent of devastation illegal mining, known locally as galamsey, had caused to the community.