加纳国家酋长院前任主席：十四世·托比·阿菲德阁下

加纳东部沃尔特地区阿索格利王国国王大酋长十四世·托比·阿菲德阁下（Togbe Afede XIV）阁下对小规模采矿者对加纳自然环境的肆意破坏表示强烈谴责。

托比阁下指出，对河流沉积物中金矿的无节制的粗犷开采，已给加纳整个国家带来了严重的环境问题，这些破坏是不可逆的，需要政策制定者和相关实体共同努力寻找解决方案。

在一年一度的九月丰收节（Yam Festival）青年与创业论坛上，托比阁下对非法小规模金矿开采者的行为表示反对，并指出社会对这种破坏性行为的容忍度在增加。

托比阁下对水资源安全表示担忧，认为环境保护并未得到足够的重视。

“看看那些因非法采矿而遭受破坏的地区的实地照片，真是令人羞愧。我们怎能任由人们在他人家园之下挖掘黄金而坐视不管？这太野蛮了！” 托比阁下指出，加纳目前面临的非法采矿问题在其他地方，包括诸多邻国，都是罕见的。

托比警告说，这种活动造成的长期损害将影响国家数十年。受到污染的不仅仅是水体，连土壤也遭受了严重损害。未来从这些土地中清除有害化学物质将是一项艰巨的任务。

托比阁下表示，小规模采矿带来的环境损害远远超过了其产生的经济效益,：“我们该怎么恢复这些被破坏的土地？恢复土地要花上数十亿美元。” 是时候采取行动保护国家的水资源了, 阿索格利王国将设立一个环境可持续性基金，用于该地区的环境保护和修复工作。

“水是非常重要的。正如耶鲁大学开设一项关于饮用水课程，这正是因为他们将水视为一种重要的全球性资源，将水视为生命之源。没有水，庄稼不能生长，动物无法生存。”

托比阁下呼吁青年加入对抗采矿危害的行列，并对那些已开始行动的人表示赞扬。托比强调，这对社会上的青年人来说是一项艰巨的挑战。这个问题不仅仅是酋长们需要关注的，年轻人的积极参与同样至关重要。

今年的丰收节主题为：“确保所有人享有自由和正义”，其中青年论坛更吸引来自霍省行政区逾千名青年参加。

霍省技术大学副校长 Ben Hornyenuga 教授与各位传统领袖作为德高望重的先辈，为与会青年在个人成长、教育和职业发展以及创业方面提供了指导。

托比阁下表示，该论坛旨在赋予青年权力，激发他们的创业精神，并通过分享个人生活经历来激励他们追求卓越。

本次丰收节庆典为期一个月，其亮点有反腐败日和西非埃维族传统领袖峰会等。

Togbe Afede XIV Condemns Destruction of National Resources

Togbe Afede XIV, the Agbogbomefia of Asogli has condemned the headstrong destruction of Ghana’s natural environment by small scale miners.

He said the unbridled crude extraction of alluvium gold had been plaguing the nation with irreversible environmental disaster that must get policy makers and the concerned entities in a deadlock over workable solutions.

Togbe Afede, while addressing a youth and entrepreneurship forum as part of the 2024 Yam Festival, spoke against growing tolerance for the destructive venture.

The Agbogbomefia was responding to concerns over water availability, and expressed worry over what was considered as a lack of priority towards the environment.

“It is an embarrassment to see images from communities that have been victims of ‘galamseyers’. How can we as a nation sit down and watch people dig under people’s homes looking for gold? It looks very primitive,” he said.

He said it was strange that the current happenings in Ghana with the galamsey menace, could not happen elsewhere, even in the neighbouring countries, warning that the damages caused would affect the country for decades.

“It is not only the water bodies that have been contaminated, but even the lands. How to get the chemicals out of those lands in future will be a problem,” he said.

Togbe Afede asserted that the damage caused by small scale mining far outweighed the benefits.

“How can we restore all these degraded lands? We will need billions of dollars to rehabilitate these degraded lands,” he cried.

Togbe Afede said it was time for the country to take steps to safeguard its water resources, and that the Asogli State would make effective an environmental sustainability fund for the regional capital.

“Water is very important so much that Yale University has developed a course on drinking water, because they see the resource as an important universal resource.

They see water as vital to life, without which the crops could not grow, or animals survive.

He made a call to the youth to join the fight against the mining menace and commended those that had already taken up the effort, adding that this had been a huge challenge for the young people within society.

Togbe Afede stressed that the issue was not for only chiefs to fight over, but it was important for the youth to be strongly involved in the advocacy to address the menace.

This year’s yam festival is on the theme: “Lets Ensure Freedom and Justice for All” and the youth forum, had over a thousand young people from across the Ho Municipality in attendance.

Professor Ben Hornyenuga, the Vice Chancellor of the Ho Technical University joined the list of high-level personalities including traditional rulers, who mentored youth on personal, educational and career development and entrepreneurship.

Togbe Afede said the forum served as an avenue for empowering youth and to bring out the entrepreneurial spirit, and shared personal life experiences to inspire them into greatness.

Highlights of the month-long festival includes an Anti-Corruption Day, and a summit of Ewe traditional leaders in West Africa.

The grand durbar comes off on Saturday, October 05, 2024, at the Ho Jubilee Park.

来源：加纳新闻社

翻译：无尽夏

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