The Watch Committee of the Jema Anti-Galamsey Advocacy (JAGA) in Jema, Aowin Municipality, Western North Region, carried out two major border-monitoring operations on Tuesday, July 14, and Thursday, July 16, reaffirming the community’s unrelenting zero-tolerance policy against illegal mining (galamsey).
The first operation was undertaken jointly with forest guards responsible for the Jema-Assemkrom Forest Reserve. During routine patrols of Jema’s allodial lands, JAGA volunteers observed heavy pollution in the last stream separating Jema from Boinso. Suspecting illegal mining activity upstream, the volunteers alerted officers of the Forestry Commission.
A joint team of six JAGA volunteers and two forest guards subsequently trekked more than 10 kilometres through dense forest to trace the source of the contamination. After hours of searching, the team observed miners—believed to be Ghanaian nationals—operating across the international boundary on the Côte d’Ivoire side of the forest.
According to members of the patrol team, illegal miners working in the area avoid crossing into Jema because of the community’s sustained resistance to galamsey and its active volunteer surveillance. The incident nevertheless underscored the constant pressure facing Jema’s borders and the need for continued vigilance.
The second operation, conducted on July 16 by a 10-member JAGA volunteer team, focused on Jema’s boundaries with the neighbouring communities of Ngakain and Assemkrom. The patrol confirmed that the community’s boundary signs bearing the inscription, “Jema Land: No Galamsey,” remained intact. More significantly, Jema’s internal rivers and streams were found to be clean and unpolluted. To demonstrate their confidence in the water quality, members of the patrol drank directly from one of the streams, as shown in the accompanying video, and collected water samples for the community’s records.
Jema remains the only community among the settlements along the 72-kilometre Enchi-Elubo road that has successfully kept illegal mining out of its lands. In November last year, JAGA erected a large public awareness billboard illustrating the devastating environmental consequences of illegal mining while depicting the benefits of saying no to galamsey and promoting conservation, sustainable livelihoods, and responsible stewardship of God’s creation.
The people of Jema believe that protecting the environment is more than a campaign against illegal mining. It is a solemn commitment to preserve God’s creation, gratitude to their ancestors who acquired the land for them, and a responsibility to future generations.
By Friar Joseph Kwame Blay, OFM Conv.
Richard Prah
July 22, 2026A very good move by the team. Jema, the star in Aowin. God bless the team.