Statistics: The world lost 12 million hectares of forest cover each year from 2010 to 2015 versus 10 million hectares of forests annually from 2016 to 2020. While the global rate of forest cover loss is slowing, Ghana’s forest cover arithmetic demonstrates a gloomy picture as over 62 kilo hectares of forest were lost from 2010 to 2019.
Clearly, Ghana’s economic growth and achievements have come at a significant cost to its forests.
Having lost over 60 per cent of its forest cover from 1950 to 2000 (2.7 million hectares), and considering the current deforestation rate of approximately 3 per cent per year (320,803 ha/year) since 2000 and a marked increase between 2013 and 2015 of 794,214 ha/year, the future of Ghana’s forests and the people who depend on forests, is an issue of major concern.
Recommendations: Ghana must not only invest in infrastructure but also systems and approaches. Ghana must invest in transdisciplinary sustainability research, in climate smart agriculture and new green economy with incentives given to technologies that will contribute to a nationally accepted vision of the future that we want, one where we can breathe clean air with healthy trees and unpolluted water.
