In 2022, the West African nation of Ghana lost 18,000 hectares, or 44,500 acres, of forests — an area the size of 30,000 football fields. But instead of strengthening restrictions, that November, the Ghanaian government decided to further expose the country’s protected woodlands to the corrosive effects of mineral extraction. The legislative changes allowed mining in critical biodiversity areas, relaxed rules for obtaining exploitation permits, and opened the door to more mining in forest reserves. Even before the measure was passed, many of Ghana’s protected forests were exposed. Environmental campaigners had been advocating for curbing mining in these reserves altogether. The country has fought a highly publicized battle against small-scale artisanal miners, known as galamsey, yet the effects of industrial-scale mineral extraction have gone largely ignored. Between 2000 and 2019, industrial mining was the leading cause of forest loss in Ghana, putting it in the same category as countries like Indonesia and Brazil, which have vastly larger forest areas. According to a Mongabay analysis of data from Ghana’s Mineral Commission, 200 active mining licenses already overlap with forest reserves in Ghana, three-quarters of which are industrial permits. These impact more than a third of the country’s 266 reserves. Since passing the legislative order LI 2462 in November 2022, Ghana has doled out mining permits at a record pace. Environmentalists say they fear forests are at greater risk than ever. “It is very retrogressive,” Daryl Bosu, deputy director of the NGO A Rocha Ghana, told Mongabay. “This is not in alignment…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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