Ghana’s forest reserve is no more pristine

Ghana’s forest reserve is no more pristine
Audrey Micah, Ghanadot

Accra, July 13, Ghanadot - Research conducted by GhanaDot indicated that our vegetation, particularly our forest reserves, is gradually being destroy.

A few years ago, Ghana could boast of good vegetation in all the forest belts of the country.

But now the situation is a sad reflection of the indiscriminate felling of trees and the unscientific agricultural practices in the country.

According to agriculturalists contacted in our research, the defoliation is also due to Ghana’s inability to stick to sustainable forest management practices that put the country’s forest reserve under stress.

The indiscriminate felling of trees for timber and fuel wood, as well as agricultural practices, have resulted in extreme weather and climatic changes across the country.

Storms, floods, drought, wild fires and many other natural disasters threaten the lives and livelihoods of the Ghanaian people throughout the country.

Many people in Ghana especially the rural folks use trees for firewood and cooking which has increased the problem of land degradation and often even increased their poverty.

In order to gain further supplies of fuel the local population add more pressure to the depleted forests; adding to the defoliation and desertification process.

The recent floods in many parts of the country that resulted in the loss of innocent lives can be attributed partly to the change in climatic conditions. This threat is expected to grow if we do not adopt strategies that would reduce disasters.

The weather and climate change affect every sphere of human endeavour, including agriculture, public health, water sources, energy, transport and the overall socio-economic development of the country.

In response to the issue of climate change, many countries have formulated action plans to minimise the effects of global warming on society.

Climate change in recent times has brought in its wake very extreme weather conditions such as long drought, long periods of winter season and heavy rainfall, as well as high levels of the sea.

The government recently set up an inter-agency security committee to check the activities of illegal chain-saw and galamsey operators in the country.

Inaugurating the committee, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Collins Dauda, said the move had become necessary in order to address the alarming rate at which the country’s forest was being depleted by chain-saw operators.

Ghanadot