Ghana's forest depleting at alarming rate

Page 38
27-10-08

ABOUT eighty-five per cent of Ghana’s forest reserve has been depleted, leaving only 15 per cent in good condition, Dr Daniel Sekyere, Deputy Director of the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) has stated.
This, he said, was due to unsustainable agriculture practices, illegal farming practices, poor logging practices, over-exploitation, illegal chainsaw lumbering and mining and firewood extraction.
He said for instance, that the country consumed between 10-16 million cubic meters of fuel wood annually.
Dr Sekyere was presenting a paper on “100 Years of Forestry in Ghana: CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana’s Contribution Towards National Development” as part of the Ghana International Furniture and Woodworking Exhibition (GIFEX 2008) in Accra.
The impact of forest degradation, he said, included soil erosion, formation of hardpan, decline in water volume in rivers, streams, lakes and dams, deterioration of water quality, wind damage to crops and buildings, air pollution and global warming and climate change.
Dr Sekyere said the country’s potential forest zone covered 8.2 million hectares while 1.7 million hectares were under forest reservation and the remaining 6.5 million used for agriculture, settlements, roads and railways.
According to him, more than 70 per cent of the non-reserved forest had been lost over the last 100 years, leaving only 15 per cent in good condition.
He noted that FORIG had instituted various interventions, including restoration of degraded forest, large scale plantation and efficient utilisation of forest products to arrest forest degradation.
Dr Sekyere said the mandate of the institute was to undertake forest products research to ensure sustainable management and utilisation of the country’s forest resources as well as engage in the commercialisation of the research results and services.
He said CSIR-FORIG had a vision of becoming a centre of excellence in Forestry Research in the humid tropics, adding that the mission was to conduct high quality user-focused research that generated scientific knowledge and appropriate technologies which enhanced sustainable development.
FORIG’s contribution to sustainable forest management, he said, included the development of methods of rehabilitating mined and degraded sites, development of biodiversity conservation methods and establishment of Bambusetum containing fifteen (15) indigenous and exotic species.
“I believe that if our research findings are applied diligently, we will create greater impact and more value for our stakeholders, reinvigorate our research and help contribute to a sustainable environment and improved livelihoods for the good people of Ghana,” he said.
Dr Sekyere said FORIG’s contribution to plantation development were the development of techniques for establishment of woodlots in the derived savannah agro-ecological zones in the country, establishment of economics of plantation development, improved seeds and seedlings for planting and vegetation propagation techniques for species such as Wawa, Odum and Kusia.
The efficient utilisation of forest products, he said, drying and preservative schedules for a number of tree species, development of technologies for pulp and paper production from indigenous plant species, physical, mechanical, anatomical and working characteristics of a number of species, utilisation of lesser-used species and suitability of various species for composite products manufacturing.
Dr Ernest G. Foli of FORIG said the timber trade in Ghana began well over 100 years ago and that only a few species, mainly Mahogany, Odum, Sapele, Wawa, among others, were of interest in those early days.
Until about 1990, he said, less than 20 timber species were considered as species of ‘prime’ commercial value.