Environmental civil society organizations including Occupy Ghana, a pressure group, have urged the government to reverse its decision to degazette the Achimota Forest.
They said that the Executive Instrument degazetting the Forest would expose it to all forms of development, jeopardizing the area's status as a Forest Reserve.
"We are startled that the President is satisfied that the territory mentioned in the schedule is no longer necessary as a Forest Reserve," stated a statement published by 12 civil society organizations.
"We don't see how degazetting a portion of the Achimota Forest Reserve can assure development that is compatible with the Forest Reserve's territory, and instead feel the reverse is true...," the statement read.
It said that Accra could not afford to lose any part of its only Forest Reserve, and that urban forests offered vital ecosystem services including as pollution removal, carbon storage, oxygen production, and flood mitigation.
The EI 144 area, according to the statement, is a critical section of the Forest Reserve because of its location alongside the highway, providing a protective barrier for the Forest Reserve's wildlife and performing key ecosystem service functions to help control pollution from vehicles on the highway and N1.
"It is also vital to maintain natural places in metropolitan areas for people's welfare, exercise, relaxation, and mental health." "They also create animal corridors as they move throughout the terrain," it added.
In a statement, Occupy Ghana also demanded the government to produce a development plan that examined and incorporated the land's original forestry use as well as other current applications.
The group said that the government's record of holding compulsorily acquired property was inadequate, and that some of those estates had ended up in the hands of government and party leaders under the pretence of being restored to the original owners.
"These reasons combine to make Ghanaians wary of any property deal involving the government, and with good reason," says the report.
Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, denied claims that the government had degazetted an Executive Instrument (E.I.) to sanction the Forest's redesignation, sale, or development during a press conference on Tuesday.
He said that the government's enactment of E.I. 154 (Declaration of Lands Remaining as Forest Reserve) was intended to maintain the land's ecological integrity.
According to the Minister, the Instrument, contrary to rumors, prohibits any physical construction on surrounding territory that might jeopardize the Forest's biological integrity.
"Achimota Forest has not been sold, has not been compromised, and will not be sold; it has remained unchanged." We will continue to reforest the Achimota Forest, and with God's help, we want to turn it into a real forest reserve that would benefit Accra and the Ghanaian people," Mr Jinapor added.
According to the Minister, the government had always intended to turn the Achimota Forest into a Forest Reserve that was "fit for purpose and suitable of Accra as the capital."
"If you look at the request I made to the President for an Executive Instrument, I did indicate in the final paragraph in order to motivate the President's discretion to give approval for us to proceed as we've done, I did indicate and I quote: 'The Ministry intends to develop the forest into an ecotourism Park along with the rest of the country.'