Livelihood Economic Activities Causing Deforestation in Northern Ghana: Evidence of Sissala West District

Abstract

Policymakers and international organizations are making the conscious effort to address climate change through afforestation and sustainable ecosystem management. Economic activities including agriculture, mining, and infrastructure improvement to meet basic human needs continuously degrade the natural and forest resources. The rate of deforestation in Ghana is alarming due to over-reliance on forest resources by forest-dependent communities. Perceived causes of deforestation differ from individuals and groups perspective. This depends on factors including environmental knowledge, education level, market demand and socio-economic activities. Simple random sampling and key informant interview with the aid of semi-structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from the indigenes of Sissala West District to determine their perceptions of causes of deforestation. The study indicated that poverty, high illiteracy, population growth and lack of alternative source of livelihood were the indirect causes which trigger livelihood economic activities such as farming, charcoal burning, wood logging and hunting leading to degradation of the ecosystem. It was also realized that majority of the indigenes are uneducated and this contributes to their unawareness of rate of deforestation. Recommendations suggested to address challenges were enforcement of bye-laws and stringent government environmental policies to deter people from degrading the forest. Education, agroforestry, afforestation, and provision of alternative livelihood were also good interventions suggested.

Analysis of the Social-Ecological Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Ghana: Application of the DPSIR Framework

“…The chemicals, pesticides, and weedicides applied to control crop insects, pests, diseases, and weeds are powerful substances that eventually kill many useful bacteria and insects that contribute to natural soil restoration [70]. These ultimately render farmlands degraded incapable of producing higher crop yields leading to the annual clearing of virgin forests, including the destruction of naturally occurring economic forests trees including Mahogany, rosewood, dawadawa, and shea trees [71].…”

“…Moreover, slashing and burning have accelerated D&FD in Ghana [56,58,72] as often fires spread into other forestlands causing massive destruction of forest trees and vegetation [73]. The use of tractors and modern machinery for clearing forest for farming purposes equally destroy a large tract of the virgin forest [71]. Table 2 However, this decline could not be sustained as between 2013 and 2015, land use activities for cropland, cocoa, oil palm, rubber, and citrus increased in both open and closed forests compared to the previous years of 2010-2013.…”

“…The growth in the rural population, in particular, is indirectly pushing more people to depend on forest resources for their well-being and sustenance. Ghana's population growth has led to massive farm expansion, increased shelters, and land fragmentation [71] which constitute the significant drivers of forests' biodiversity loss and extinction [93]. Apart from the natural population increase by inhabitants living around the forest areas, people migrating towards forestland areas has also soared, leading to high dependence on forestlands for farming and other livelihood activities to meet their socioeconomic needs [84].…”

“…Lack of significant policy collaboration between the Forest Law Environmental Governance and Trade (FLEGT) and REDD+ is hampering forest policy reforms [99,100]. For instance, the poor enforcement of the national forest policy caused inadequate community forest protection in the Sissala West District in the northern region, leading to poor forest resources management [71]. Forest policies must provide an opportunity to increase farmers' rights and capacity to manage and use timber trees [96] to curtail the widespread illegal logging in Ghana's high forest zones [81].…”

“…Poverty is the critical underlying force that is driving high D&FD in Ghana. For instance, [25,71] identify the underlying local level poverty issues as factors compelling the rural people to heavily depend on forests for most of their livelihoods and survival needs which put heavy pressure on the forests leading to massive and widespread D&FD. Unfortunately, there is a lack of clarity in analyzing poverty-environment effects on D&FD [60].…”