NAIMOS to launch Operation Greenshield at Atiwa Forest Reserve to combat illegal mining

The National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS) is planning a new forest protection operation, dubbed Operation Greenshield, beginning with the Atiwa Forest Reserve, as part of efforts to curb illegal mining.

The Director of Operations at NAIMOS, Colonel K. S. Appiah, said the operation would target illegal mining in priority areas, prevent miners from returning to cleared sites and establish a system for the long-term protection of forest reserves.

Addressing the media on the fight against illegal mining, he explained that Operation Greenshield would involve clearing affected areas, securing them against renewed encroachment and eventually handing over responsibility for routine protection to the relevant state agencies.

“We also plan to conduct Operation Greenshield. Operation Greenshield is our planned forest protection intervention that will commence with the Atiwa Forest Reserve,” he said.

According to Colonel Appiah, the intervention aims to disrupt illegal mining in priority areas, deny renewed access, and create the conditions for sustained protection of this strategic watershed.

Colonel Appiah outlined a three-stage approach to the planned operation, comprising clearing and disrupting illegal mining activities, holding and stabilising affected areas, and eventually transitioning responsibility to the relevant authorities.

“The concept for Atiwa follows three stages. We’ll clear and disrupt, hold and stabilise, and transition and hand over,” he said.

Under the plan, specially trained personnel will conduct operations to disrupt illegal mining activities in targeted parts of the reserve.

The initial phase will focus on clearing priority hotspots and preventing illegal miners from continuing their activities. This will be followed by sustained patrols and surveillance to ensure that those areas are not occupied again.

The final stage will involve transferring responsibility for routine protection to the Forestry Commission, allowing its guards to take over the ongoing monitoring and protection of the reserve.

Colonel Appiah said the intended outcome was to ensure that priority areas were not only cleared but also secured against renewed illegal mining.

“The intended outcome is a reserve in which priority hotspots have been cleared and stabilised, with routine protection progressively transferred to Forestry Commission guards,” he said.

He added that protecting the Atiwa Forest Reserve would strengthen efforts to safeguard water sources and restore areas affected by illegal mining.

The operations director said a key principle behind Operation Greenshield was to ensure that NAIMOS could move on to other priority areas after completing its enforcement duties.

He explained that the secretariat was not expected to remain permanently in every area where it conducted operations. Instead, the relevant agencies would take over to ensure that cleared forest reserves, watersheds and river systems remained protected.

“Our enforcement, after enforcement, we cannot remain permanently in those areas,” he said.

Colonel Appiah said the operation was therefore designed to create a transition to permanent, agency-led protection rather than rely indefinitely on temporary enforcement deployments.

“So we should be able to transition to other agencies to take over the task of monitoring and preventing illegal miners from encroaching onto declared areas,” he said.

The handover is expected to allow NAIMOS to redirect its personnel and resources to other locations while the responsible agencies maintain a presence in areas already secured.

The approach also places emphasis on preventing illegal miners from returning after enforcement teams have withdrawn, a key challenge in sustaining the gains made during anti-galamsey operations.

Colonel Appiah said maintaining the effectiveness of NAIMOS operations would require continued investment in logistics, mobility, communications and support for personnel deployed in the field.

He said that the scale of the task, combined with the difficult terrain in some operational areas, made reliable transport and communication systems essential.

“Going forward, we need to sustain our operational effectiveness. The scale and terrain of the task require sustained mobility, service-level boots, reliable communication, and effective support to deployed personnel,” he said.

He also mentioned the need for equipment to recover and secure machinery seized during operations against illegal mining.

According to him, the recovery and proper handling of heavy equipment are necessary to ensure that seized machines do not find their way back into illegal mining activities.

“Heavy equipment recovery is necessary to secure seized machines and prevent it from returning to illegal operations,” he said.

Colonel Appiah said the government, through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, had committed to providing the funding and logistical support required to sustain NAIMOS operations.

“The government, through the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources, has committed to providing the needed logistics support and funding to sustain NAIMOS operations,” he said.