- An unprecedented campaign recently pushed Ghana’s government to repeal legislation allowing mining in forest reserves.
- Originally passed in 2022, the regulations had opened up nearly 90% of Ghana’s forest reserves to mining, but the campaign spurred nationwide protests, petitions, a strike and a prayer walk on the streets of Accra.
- “Together, we rallied behind the idea that our forests are more important to us than gold. But as momentous as repealing the legislation is, it’s only a staging post in a longer journey to end the devastation that mining is inflicting in Ghana,” a new op-ed argues.
- This article is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
On Dec. 10, 2025, Ghana’s government revoked one of the worst pieces of environmental legislation in our country’s history.
The Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations passed in 2022 opened up nearly 90% of Ghana’s forest reserves, including globally significant biodiversity areas, to mining. These forests, which cover more than 9 million hectares (22 million acres), are crucial for providing water, managing microclimates and supporting forest-dependent communities.
Ghana’s leading cause of forest loss is industrial mining, and the country — Africa’s biggest gold producer — is among the top three in the world for direct mining-related deforestation. The 2022 legislation compounded the problem, with the government doling out mining permits at a record pace and watching on as forests were besieged by illegal miners.
The decision to therefore ban mining in Ghana’s forest reserves marked a significant achievement. This success was built on a campaign that galvanized a remarkably broad coalition, including civil society, faith institutions, trade unions and the general public. Together, we rallied behind the idea that our forests are more important to us than gold.
But as momentous as repealing the legislation is, it’s only a staging post in a longer journey to end the devastation that mining is inflicting in Ghana.
Unprecedented attack
Much of this destruction is associated with galamsey, the illegal small-scale mining that has long blighted our country, but that takes place mostly outside forest reserves. Before 2022, these reserves were largely protected by the law, although incursions by illegal operators were common and authorities turned a blind eye, as most were by daring community individuals who encroached forest boundaries to undertake microscale mining with rudimentary tools. Illegal incursions by mining companies were completely absent.
Then came the gold price boom, with investors viewing gold as a safe haven in a time of geopolitical and economic uncertainty.
Since many of Ghana’s gold deposits lie beneath forest reserves, our previous government argued that extracting it would generate more revenue for the country, which led to them passing legislation opening up the forest reserves. This sparked an unprecedented attack on forests, particularly by companies linked to the government, as revealed by the Ghanaian nonprofit investigative reporting outlet The Fourth Estate.
Mass campaign
Ghana has mined gold for more than a century, but ordinary people have seen few of the benefits, while the communities living in mining areas have seen their farmlands destroyed and their water bodies ruined. Almost all of Ghana’s water treatment facilities sit on river bodies coming from forest reserves, which therefore play a significant role in providing clean water for the country.
We could not allow these priceless assets, which are critical for us as well as for future generations, to be taken over by companies linked to our political leaders.
The campaign to stop and repeal the legislation encompassed nationwide protests, petitions, a strike and a prayer walk on the streets of Accra. It attracted unions, environmental CSOs, the Catholic Church and prominent social media influencers, among others. In October 2024, 53 people were arrested for protesting galamsey and illegal mining in forest reserves, and held for 21 days.
It’s the first time I’ve seen collective action in Ghana with such a specific agenda. Pressure on the government to repeal the legislation was huge, with people asking why the government wasn’t listening to them.
Eventually they did.
At the end of 2024, Ghana held a general election. Repealing the legislation that had opened our forest reserves to mining featured prominently. The opposition that went on to win the poll included it in their manifesto, and at the end of 2025, they revoked the law. It was the shortest time in our country’s history between a law’s passage and its repeal.
A way forward
While banning mining in forest reserves was a watershed, it’s the first in a number of steps needed to halt the damage mining is causing and ensure that its rewards are funneled into local development rather than the pockets of a handful of elites.
The government recently set up a Gold Board to “oversee, monitor, regulate and undertake the trading, assay, export, and other related activities in respect of gold and other precious minerals.” Civil society groups are asking for this board to support a transparent traceability system, similar to the one that exists for Ghana’s timber.
This would ensure that gold produced and traded is legal and sustainable. It would however, need to go one step further than the sustainable timber licenses, known as Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) licenses, that Ghana has agreed to with the European Union, and apply to our gold exports everywhere. This will require national as well as international consensus.
While traceability and transparency are essential, we also need to try to repair the damage that mining has caused. This is why my organization and other civil society groups are calling on the government to create a forest protection strategy for Ghana, which will lead to restoring degraded areas and sustainable forest management.
Last year ended with a renewed hope for stopping Ghana’s biggest cause of forest loss. In 2026, we must build on it.
Daryl E. Bosu is deputy director of operations for A Rocha Ghana, an NGO providing practical conservation interventions toward the sustainable management of Ghana’s important ecological habitats.
See related coverage:
Ghana repeals legislation that opened forest reserves to mining
Industrial mining’s tropical deforestation footprint spills beyond concessions
Ghana hollows out forests and green protections to advance mining interests
Citations:
Abugre, S., Asigbaase, M., Kumi, S., Nkoah, G., & Asare, A. (2025). Forest landscape degradation, carbon loss and ecological consequences of illegal gold mining in Ghana. Discover Forests, 1(1). doi:10.1007/s44415-025-00020-5
Giljum, S., Maus, V., Kuschnig, N., Luckeneder, S., Tost, M., Sonter, L. J., & Bebbington, A. J. (2022). A pantropical assessment of deforestation caused by industrial mining. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(38). doi:10.1073/pnas.2118273119
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