By Malavika Vyawahare 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…