Physical Environment (Characteristics)
Location and Size


Map 1: Amenfi Central District in Regional Context

The Amenfi Central District is located in the northern sector of the Western Region. Amenfi West Municipal bound is to North by Western North Region; to the South by Ellembelle District and Nzema East Municipal; to the Southeast by Prestea Huni-Valley Municipal; to the East by Amenfi East Municipal and to the West by Amenfi West. It lies between latitudes 5o 20N and 7o 10’N and longitudes 2o 9’W and 2o 27’W. It has estimated land area of 1,845.93 Square kilometres with 131 communities. It has Manso Amenfi as it capital


Vegetation

The District falls within the high rain forest zone and has two (2) major types of vegetation cover. These are the moist semi-deciduous forest in the northern part and the tropical rainforest in the south where rainfall is heaviest. The District has four forest reserves covering a total area of 425.14-kilometre square. The table below shows the various forest reserves and their coverage area with stool names of traditional areas under whose jurisdiction the forest reserves fall.





The District has the potential of generating revenue through taxation and royalties as well as creating employment through well-structured community mining policy.

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Green Economy and Environment

The activities of illegal mining, chainsaw operation, rampant bushes and poor application of agro technologies in the District is immensely affecting the environment around us. These activities have affected the rainfall pattern in the District. The forest service division embarked on several tree-planting programmes as well as the formation of Community Resource Management Areas (CREMAs) in the communities in and around the Amuni-Sureso and fure forest reverses.

Natural and Made-Made Disaster

The District through its NADMO office have identified area such Manso Amenfi, Nkakaa, Sraha, Hiawa, obeng and Ahiem to be prone to disaster such as floods and are working hard through public sensitisation on methods of flood prevention. Some manmade activities such as Water pollution by small-scale mining activities, poor application of fertilizers, indiscriminate bush burning, poor waste disposal (both solid and liquid wastes) being addressed

Natural Resource utilisation

The natural resources in the Amenfi Central District such farm lands, Forest reserves and water bodies are being destroyed by the illegal miners to extract gold (GALAMSEY) using the dig and wash approach along the river bodies e.g. Ankobra River. The operation of chain saw operators in the forest reserves (Mamire Forest Reserve, Fure Headwaters Forest Reserve, and Bura River Forest Reserve) has a negative turn on the natural resources in the District. The lack of technical know-how of the citizenry in the use of the resource and inadequate and logistic for monitoring the activities of user of the resources poses a great challenge