GHANA Deforestation

Deforestation in Ghana

The environmental history of the African nation of Ghana is particularly rich. Home to a myriad of flora and fauna, the Ghanaian landscape is blessed in more ways than one. Indeed, some would assert that it is this very richness that is currently leading to one of the worst environmental disasters on the African continent, for Ghana's rich stores of natural resources -- from Gold to lumber, have threatened to render this once, lush nation into a desert wasteland.

According to Microsoft's online Encarta, in the 19th century, the southern half of Ghana was completely covered by hardwood forest, however, by the year 1995, such large portions of its forests had been destroyed, over logged, or cleared for mining, that only 39.7 of the entire country remains forested, with (during the period from 1990-1996) more than 1.3% continuing to be lost every year (Encarta).

The reasons for the horrible destruction of the Ghanaian forest are many, and, mainly based on economics and greed. Ghana, like many Third World countries is paradoxically one of the poorest countries on earth (based on average standard of living), yet is blessed with immense natural resources. Of the same average size as the state of Oregon, Ghana has the distinction of being the third largest producer of cacao in the entire world (Encarta). Because of this, immense areas of forest have been razed to make room for cacao crops, which flourish in the fertile soil left by thousands of years of forest growth and renewal. In addition, in desperate need of export revenue, Ghana is forced to sell vast shipments of timber to other countries, hungry for the rich spoils of Ghanaian land.

Livestock farming has also taken its toll on the grasslands dotting forest and plane, due to overgrazing and encroachment on environmentally fragile areas. In addition, other, wild animals are suffering -- with some species of primates disappearing completely from existence, exacting a huge toll on Ghana's future for Ghanaians.

Thankfully, however, Ghana did begin a conservation plan in 1988, called the "Forest Resource Management Project," in which it restricted the export of eighteen specific tree species. Further, in 1994, it completely banned the exportation of raw logs (Encarta) (however, this does not limit the export of lumber, and threatens to be just another way for some sectors of Ghanaian government (admittedly, caught between the proverbial third world economic "rock and a hard place") to generate more revenue than raw material export can provide alone. Further, under the management project, by 1997, almost five percent of the land in Ghana is protected (Encarta), however, poaching of hard resources, as well as animal poaching, has led to continued deforestation, erosion and desertification.

Indeed, it is in the category of "hard resources," that the current threat to the Ghanaian forest springs -- in the form of gold. It seems almost poetic in its symbolism, that one of the most historically precious materials on earth could be the cause of such immense environmental destruction. However, in Ghana, today, that is exactly the case. In short, the previous Ghanaian administration agreed to allow international mining companies to search for the existence of gold reserves (at those companies expense). According to a government minister:

Some mining companies were given permits to do prospecting in the reserves by the past administration. The Forestry Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and all the relevant statutory bodies were party to it. The companies invested millions of dollars and found gold deposits in commercial quantities in the reserves (Environment News Service).

According to the same minister, the question that now exists for the current Ghanaian government is whether they are justified "morally," in not allowing the companies to extract the gold to, both, recoup their investment, as well as benefit the economy of Ghana, "whilst we have a lot of problems on our hands such as poverty, underdevelopment and unemployment" He continues, "It is true that we have to preserve the forests, but nature has also given us these resources to be tapped and managed for development, so it is the way we go about it in order not to offset the balance." Unfortunately, the minister also goes on to illustrate just what he means by "balance," when he continues:

If we say we won't allow them to mine in the reserves, what signals are we sending to other investors...It means this is a country where investments are not secured, where there are a lot of uncertainties and by the stroke of the pen you can lose your investments and monies. So we are at a crossroads and as a nation what do we do? (Environment News Service)