Deforestation in ghana pdf

From 20 to 2015, the annual deforestation rate in ghana rose to 794,214 ha per annum. Even though in ghana farmers encroach on the forests to grow. A study, described by its authors as the most comprehensive analysis of tropical forests, has disclosed that ghana has the highest rate of deforestation, out of 65 nations, apart from togo and nigeria. However, these resources are depleting due to a variety of factors including agricultural expansion and overexploitation of forest resources.

Barbier this paper is a theoretical and empirical investigation into the impact of the structural adjustment program sap on forest loss in ghana between the period 196595, an optimal control model is used to derive estimable reduced form equations for forest loss. This depends on factors including environmental knowledge, education level, market demand and socioeconomic activities. The forest region of nigeriaespecially the southwestern agrarian, and other nonfarming communities have witnessed ruthless deforestation either for urbanization or other consumerist purposes, since the past few decades. The impact on world oil demand if firewood and dung were replaced by oil products would be small. Pdf assessment of vegetation dynamics using remote. Moreover, since the majority of the rural poor in ghana depends on traditional medicine for their health care needs, the present high rate of deforestation will have a. Between 1990 and 2000, ghana lost an average of 5,000 hectares of forest per year. The ashanti region has recorded the second highest deforestation rates. Many are still in extreme poverty with inequality of income rising so high to the point of no more middle class, combined with rapid. Unsustainable management of forests in ghana from 1900. They are the major and direct cause of deforestation and other forms of ecological and environmental damages. The most notable case involved african timber and plywood, once ghana s largest exporter of round logs.

Pdf in ghana, forests provide many products on which the local population subsists. An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation. However, these resources are depleting due to a variety. Deforestation in ghana in ghana, the reason behind the cutting down of trees is usually for charcoal, pasture for livestock, farms, urban or industrial purposes.

Chocolate industry drives rainforest disaster in ivory. The effects of the structural adjustment program on. Ghanas vegetation is classified as closed forest, northern. Dependence on forest resources and tropical deforestation. The latter is comparatively high in tropical africa. Cocoa plays a critically important role in the local and national economies, providing jobs, improved livelihoods and social. The objective of the ghana forest investment program enhancing natural forest and agroforest landscapes project is to improve forest and tree management practices by cocoa farmers, crema communities and forest reserve managers to reduce forest loss and. One means to curb deforestation in ghana is to identify and tackle the drivers of forest loss the physical humaninduced and locationspecific drivers of deforestation such as agriculture. Deforestation rates in ghana are one of the highest in the world.

Enhancing natural forest and agroforest landscapes project english abstract. Livelihood economic activities causing deforestation in. Deforestation is not always caused by poverty, nor is it always caused by cooking needs. Impact of deforestation on forest livelihoods in ghana. To identify the main driver behind charcoal production we overlaid the kilns detected in the. Deforestation in ghana download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. This has become necessary in the light of the fact that research and policy on deforestation has often asserted it as evil because of the long term environmental implication for sustainable development evident in global warming. Ghana s battle with deforestation the ghanaian government is sounding the alarm over forest decline and wants millions of schoolchildren to plant and nurture trees.

Ghana case study food and agriculture organization. Emission data up to around 2000 indicates that ghana was a net sink due largely to high levels of carbon. Intended as a case study of the renewable resources policy process in developing economies, this book provides complete. Between 1990 and 2005, ghana lost over a quarter of its total national forest cover. Ghanas protected forest reserves have suffered average annual deforestation rates of 0. Poverty causes deforestation because the poor are not able to ascend the hierarchy of domestic fuel use.

The use of firewood and deforestation wise international. Rainforest in ghana, dr congo, brazil, colombia rapidly. Current attempts to address deforestation have stalled due to lack of collaboration between stakeholders and policy makers. The fao rates of deforestation are not the net changes in forest area reported by the fao 1995, 2001. The impact of charcoal production on forest degradation. Deforestation is changing the habitats of diseasecarrying insects and creating conditions that may help to spread malaria, river blindness and other devastating illnesses. Of all 65 countries surveyed, ghana had the third highest rate of deforestation. The most concentrated deforestation occurs in tropical rainforests. Tree cover threshold is used for defining the tree cover area.

Intended as a case study of the renewable resources policy process in. Study on the evolution of some deforestation drivers and. In ghana, forests provide many products on which the local population subsists. To evaluate the impact of deforestation and forest degradation we compared forest degradation estimates based on kiln density and deforestation from global forest change 20002014 product hansen et al 20. Deforestation is driven by agricultural expansion in ghana. Deforestation is driven by agricultural expansion in ghanas forest. The impact of deforestation of forest livelihoods in ghana. Concluding remarks there is a clear linkages between deforestation and worlds demands of fiber, food, and fuel understanding the underlying or indirect causes of deforestation is crucial to address redd and climate change most deforestation is driven. Perceived causes of deforestation differ from individuals and groups perspective. Despite the governments efforts to maintain and protect ghanas forest reserves. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. This high rate of deforestation in ghana is of major national concern as forests provide.

Study on the evolution of some deforestation drivers and their potential impacts on the costs of an avoiding deforestation scheme in the context of the framework contract no. Deforestation, clearance, clearcutting or clearing is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land which is then converted to a nonforest use. At this rate of logging, ghana s forests would disappear in the next ten years and ghana. Deforestation in ghana ghana s cocoa forest landscape has one of the highest deforestation rates in africa, at 3. Deforestation in ghana is caused mainly by anthropogenic factors rather natural factors.

Ndvi and change detection of brfr from 1991 to 2017. Rather, they are gross rates of deforestation, excluding increases in plantation areas. The west african state of ghana has a forest cover of9. Ghana is no exception to the continuous environmental degradation as a result of deforestation. In ghana most rural communities live very close to the forest and are major and direct consumers of the goods and services from the forest. Basically, many of the function s of tropical forests are not marketed and as such are ignored in decision making. In the transition zone of ghana, bush fires annually cause havoc on forest resources. For example, 75% includes only areas with more than 75% tree cover, whereas 10% includes all areas with more than 10% tree cover. The aim was to get as much quantitative information as possible about the relative importance of deforestation and forest degradation drivers as a national fraction e.

In addition to forest loss, the problem in ghana is a gradual degradation, which is incremental rather than dramatic. Assessment of environmental impact of deforestation in. Tropical deforestation in ghana has become a topic of pro nounced interest among researchers, policy makers and develop ment practitioners in the turn of the twentieth century. Deforestation rates tables and charts according to the u. A wetland set aside for conservation because of its international importance according to set criteria. Natural and plantation forest areas for 2000 were obtained from fao 2001. The recent fao 2010 report has estimated ghana s deforestation at 5 395 ha per year. In the amazon, industrialscale cattle ranching and soybean production for world markets are increasingly important causes of deforestation, and in indonesia, the conversion of tropical forest to commercial palm tree plantations to produce biofuels for export is a major cause of deforestation on borneo and sumatra. Governments incentives and policies ghana has one of the highest deforestation rates in africa and the world, at 2% per annum. Pdf dependence on forest resources and tropical deforestation in. Assessment of vegetation dynamics using remote sensing and. Challenges posed by constant deforestation with no reforestation programs and policies are high, constraints impose by lack of proper awareness, inability of government to provide basic amenities and lack of proper environmental protection law to be enforced. Recent years have also seen a marked increase in the deforestation rate. With the current rate of deforestation, ghana s forests could completely disappear in 25 years.

Ivory coast deforestation up to 70% of the worlds cocoa is produced by 2 million farmers in a belt that stretches from sierra leone to cameroon, but ivory coast and ghana are the giants, the. Timber organization itto, 2005, the annual rate of deforestation in ghana. According to a study published by the wood products trade group, an international tropical timber organization in japan, ghana s deforestation rate is 2. A study of woodfuel deforestation links in rural ghana. Pdf deforestation in ghana download full pdf book download. The rate of deforestation in ghana is alarming due to overreliance on forest resources by forestdependent communities. Agriculture, including forestry, is the backbone of the ghanaian economy. The forestry commission, republic of ghana development of. At the current rate of deforestation, the countrys forests could completely disappear in less than 25 years. Scandals have been reported in ghana s forestry industry since 1986, and they erupted again in early 1992. Deforestation in ghana is a researchbased analytical study that explains the disconnect between the declared deforestation policy intentions and their outcomes in ghana. Ghana s forests could completely disappear in less than 25 years by judy ogutu on 25 august 2014 rampant deforestation has cleared seven percent of ghana. Ghana forest information and data tropical rainforests. Causes of deforestation the causes of deforestation are numerous, interrelated and complex in nature.