In November 2022, Ghana’s former government, led by former President Nana Akufo-Addo, stood alongside world leaders at COP27 to proudly launch the Forests and Climate Leaders’ Partnership (FCLP), a global initiative aimed at protecting vital ecosystems.
Yet, in the very same month, the government quietly enacted Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 2462 an insidious piece of legislation that opened the doors of both protected and production forest reserves to mining.
This was not merely a contradiction; it was a betrayal and an utter failure of the Ghanaian government’s responsibility to uphold the public’s trust.
The same administration that posed as a climate champion on the international stage became a forest destroyer at home through L.I. 2462.
Its lofty promises to protect forests were ultimately for show, while its real actions undermined those very commitments. Through both policy and practice, the government triggered an unprecedented wave of destructive interest in Ghana’s forests.
The public quickly saw through the facade. The backlash was swift and sustained. Civil society organisations, labour unions, religious bodies, professional associations, and community leaders rose up with one unified message: Ghana’s forests are not for sale.
Nevertheless, successive administrations—first under former President Nana Akufo-Addo and now under President John Dramani Mahama—have continued to treat environmental protection as a transactional issue rather than a national imperative.
The former government ignored years of evidence-based advocacy until mounting economic pressure from labour unions forced a reluctant and ultimately hollow response: a repeal instrument hastily drafted just as Parliament recessed, ensuring that no vote could take place.
Simultaneously, it criminalised dissent by arresting 52 peaceful protesters who were demanding protection for forest reserves.
The struggle over L.I. 2462 has laid bare a painful truth about environmental governance in Ghana: whether through outright resistance or empty compromises, both past and present governments have systematically prioritised political and economic interests over the preservation of the nation’s forests.
This dual failure is not merely a cautionary tale but also a strategic blueprint for civil society to demand meaningful change.
The previous administration’s handling of repeal demands revealed a model of governance fundamentally averse to environmental accountability.
For years, civil society’s evidence-based interventions were met with indifference, only prompting action when faced with the organised strength of labour unions threatening economic disruption.
Even then, the government’s response was cynically calculated a repeal document drafted just as Parliament closed, thereby avoiding any actual parliamentary scrutiny.
Meanwhile, the state criminalised legitimate protest, arresting 52 peaceful demonstrators in a clear display of misplaced priorities.
The lesson was stark: in the absence of economic or political threat, ecological protection would remain indefinitely deferred, no matter the international pledges or constitutional responsibilities.
The current administration has proven equally disillusioning though by different means. Campaigning on an explicit promise to repeal L.I. 2462 and enjoying broad support from environmental advocates, the government executed a classic bait-and-switch after assuming office.
Its reversal on the regulation demonstrates a troubling disregard for due legal process. Initially acknowledging the illegitimacy of the regulation, the administration now finds itself defending, in court, what was clearly an unlawful overreach.
The sequence exposes a deliberate manipulation: an improperly enacted mining regulation in 2022, lacking proper legislative basis, retroactively rubber-stamped by Act 1124 in 2025 in a blatant bid to legitimise the indefensible.
This manoeuvre effectively keeps 90% of Ghana’s forests open to mining unless there is a fundamental shift in policy and governmental will.
These parallel experiences—one of stubborn resistance, the other of strategic deception require civil society to fundamentally rethink its approach to environmental advocacy.
Activists must now understand that achieving policy wins demands a strategy that anticipates institutional resistance in all its forms. The previous administration taught us that traditional advocacy tools dialogue, petitions, research only succeed when accompanied by disruptive actions that inflict real costs, as the labour strikes clearly illustrated.
The current government proves that even so-called “friendly” administrations require sustained scrutiny, reinforced by robust accountability mechanisms that transcend electoral cycles.
To reverse this dangerous trajectory, civil society must escalate its strategy:
Forge intersectional alliances uniting labour, faith, health, business, and education sectors, to broaden influence and reframe the conversation—away from simply “trees” to livelihoods, water security, and national pride.
Internationalise the issue by tying L.I. 2462 to global climate financing, trade negotiations, and Ghana’s rankings in international sustainability indices.
Pursue a dual-track resistance strategy: constitutional litigation under Article 36(9), paired with relentless, high-profile public mobilisation that refuses to let the matter fade from public consciousness.
Institutionalise the infrastructure of mobilisation—developing rapid-response mechanisms, cross-campaign continuity, and resilience through political transitions.
At its heart, this is a struggle over power: who wields it, and who can hold it to account. Ghana’s forests continue to diminish because short-term political gains are repeatedly prioritised over long-term ecological sustainability.
Empty appeals to the government’s conscience will not stop this decline. Only a determined, multi-pronged campaign that transforms environmental protection from a negotiable policy issue into an unyielding national imperative can hope to succeed.
This is not merely about laws or policy; it concerns water security for millions, climate resilience for all Ghanaians, the preservation of irreplaceable biodiversity, and Ghana’s credibility on the world stage.
As the L.I. 2462 controversy has demonstrated, real change only occurs through uncompromising and multifaceted pressure that leaves no room for delay, evasion, or hollow concessions.
Civil society must now build the coalitional strength, strategic flexibility, and unrelenting momentum required to make forest protection inescapable not just a policy preference, but a binding national duty.
Looking ahead, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama has pledged to amend the Minerals and Mining Act 703 to completely prohibit mining in forest reserves. This represents a renewed opportunity to deliver on longstanding promises to end the destruction of Ghana’s forest reserves.
Should President Mahama fulfil this commitment, it would stand as one of the most significant environmental interventions by a Ghanaian leader offering generational protection for the nation’s forests and the essential ecological services they provide.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
