Our forests

It was a thick smoke from a distance. And as we drew closer, we could feel the intense heat accompanied by a bellowing fire which was destroying the beautiful evergreen plantation along the Accra-Cape Coast Highway.

That was a reckless human activity undertaken by some farmers and herdsmen for their parochial interests, who were not mindful of the negative effects of their activity on the environment. But the worse story of the environmental degradation and absolute rape of the environment was yet to manifest. Along the stretch of the road at Gomoa Otsew, just a few metres from Apam Junction, were six men and women cutting the acacia trees planted along the road to sell as firewood.

When I first saw the zeal and dexterity with which the people were cutting the trees, I thought they were clearing the place for the expansion of the road or for an electrification project along that line. But that was not to be.

When I probed further, I gathered that the planting and nurturing of these trees to protect the area from environmental degradation were undertaken by an international non-governmental organisation in collaboration with the government of Ghana at a very huge cost. At least that was what a signpost at the two ends of the road indicated.

Ironically, that was where the “operation cut the trees into pieces for firewood and charcoal”, began

Out of curiosity I alighted from the vehicle on which I was travelling to find the reason for the people’s action. But it seemed they were ignorant of the damage they were causing the environment.

As I watched in awe, one of the “harvesters” came close to me and asked if she could supply me a truck full of the firewood or a bag of charcoal.

I asked myself whether these people were not aware that Ghana was losing 65,000 hectares of forest and that within 23 years, the country could lose all its forest cover if no action was taken to curtail the degradation?

I found it ridiculous  to suggest to them that the forest cover was expected to protect their rivers and that constant cutting down of the trees would invariably affect their source of water supply.

With great pride, the people took me round the community and demonstrated to me that they were capable of ‘chalking up a great feat’ in respect of cutting down our trees. This they did by showing me piles of firewood and bags of charcoal in their homes.

It is mind boggling how the forest continues to decline in terms of size and quality in spite of the sophisticated institutions and human resource available in this country.

Depletion of forest cover

At the turn of the 20th century, we are told, the country’s forest cover stood at 8.2 million hectares but this had reduced to about 1.6 million hectares, according to figures from the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources.

While Ghanaians are aware of the economic value of the forest, the same could not be said of the populace’s  consciousness of the benefits of the country’s forest.

That lack of understanding makes people continue the depletion of our forests.

But if we continuously sign millions of Ghana cedi agreements with our donor partners and yet go to sleep or our major preoccupation is to undertake regular “operations”  and “arrest” chainsaw operators (who are released in most cases), what do we expect?  How do we then promote the ‘environmental consciousness of the populace?’

The Forestry Commission has been lamenting this state of affairs.

Every now and then, we hold seminars and conferences and “express alarm at the increasing incidents of poaching and  illegal felling of trees in the country’s forest reserves.”

But what about other areas where we spend millions of Ghana cedis to plant trees to protect the environment? Is it not intriguing that nobody has seen the wanton destruction along the roads, particularly when it is being carried out in  broad daylight with reckless abandon ?

Our efforts to protect the environment could only yield positive results when we give serious attention to the small trees we grow to protect ourselves and the environment.

Written by  Timothy Gobah | timgobah@gmail.com