Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Background: Forest resources contribute significantly to household incomes, energy, and food security, providing sustenance and revenue for about 2.5 million people in Ghana. However, deforestation has been a long-standing issue that has affected forests and biodiversity conservation. Little attention has been drawn to deforestation and its associated implications on forest-based livelihoods, though two-thirds of Ghana’s population depends on forests and forest resources for their livelihoods.

Method: The study employed quantitative and qualitative methods. Primary data was collected from 80 respondents in the Bibiani-Awhiaso-Bekwai communities through a field survey. A chi-square test was conducted to analyze quantitative data, and content analysis was adopted for qualitative data.

Results: Farming, NTFPs picking, wood harvesting, hunting, and gathering firewood were the forest-based livelihoods identified. Most participants described the forest's condition as highly degraded and very highly degraded. Deforestation negatively affects the participants' livelihood activities, reducing crop yield due to drought, scarce NTFPs, bush animals, and wood species. Furthermore, the participants lamented that deforestation reduced their income from forest-based livelihood activities. They described their economic well-being as the same, little affected, and worse by various social groups. The concepts of support for current consumption, safety net, and the theory of sustainable livelihood framework further discussed these results.

Conclusion: Deforestation adversely affects forest-based livelihood activities, which rural people depend on for sustenance. Hence, a sustainable and all-inclusive management system should be adopted, measures of accountability and regulation of powerful actors instituted, and power decentralized to the local people to sustainably manage the forest resources and achieve the concept of rural development.