18/06/2026
Ghana stands on the brink of a crucial constitutional change that could reshape our environmental landscape. The Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) has proposed a shift from vague environmental goals to a robust framework that includes enforceable protections for our natural resources. However, the final report remains unpublished, and with the next elections approaching, there’s a risk of sidelining citizen voices in this important process.
To ensure that adequate concerns of citizens and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are heard, the Citizens Platform on Constitutional Review (CPCR), an initiative facilitated by CDD-Ghana, STAR-Ghana Foundation, and Democracy Hub, in partnership with A Rocha Ghana, successfully convened CSOs on Ghana's Constitutional Reform Process with focus on the Natural Resource & Environment thematic area on June 16, 2026.
KEY ISSUES DISCUSSED -
1. The paradigm shift: from Article 36(9)’s non-justiciable directive to the enforceable Public Trust Doctrine and fiduciary state duties.
2. Criminalising ecocide: implications for combating galamsey and mass environmental destruction.
3. Critical gaps: the Polluter Pays Principle, a specialised Environmental Court, individual duties to protect the environment, and a justiciable Right to a Healthy Environment.
4. Community and procedural rights: Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), mineral revenue benefit-sharing, and public interest litigation.
OBJECTIVES -
* Analyse and validate the CRC’s environmental and natural resource recommendations in detail.
* Build sector consensus on critical omissions and necessary amendments.
* Formulate a clear, actionable roadmap for engagement and coordination of CSOs' responses with the CRIC and the Citizens Platform on Constitutional Review.
OUTCOMES -
* A strategy for direct engagement with the President’s office, CRIC, and Parliamentary Select Committees.
* Agreement on unified recommendations to the CRIC and Parliament.
