ABSTRACT
Timber production data are very essential for sustainable
management of forest resources. In Ghana and most developing countries the rate
of timber harvesting is increasing alarmingly, leading to depletion and
degradation of forest resources. In a bid to investigate the rate of depletion
of timbers in Ghana, the rate of timber harvesting in the On and Off reserve
areas in the Bibiani Anhwiaso Bekwai Forest District of the Western Region, was
evaluated over the period 2002 to 2012. Sampling in the On and Off reserves was
conducted during an eight months period in 2013. A total of 57 different
indigenous hardwood species in 22 families were identified to be harvested from
both On and Off reserve areas. The data obtained from the Forest Services
Division official records (monthly and annual report files) were on the
species, volume and number of different economic timber species exploited on
monthly basis from 2002 to 2012. The number and volume of timber species
harvested from the forest reserves (On reserve) was higher and significantly
different (p<0 .05="" 18="" 211="" an="" areas="" district="" during="" ecosystem="" eleven="" estimated="" exploited="" forest="" from="" harvested="" m="" number="" of="" off="" over="" period="" reserve="" stems="" sup="" than="" the="" those="" total="" trunk="" volume="" was="" with="" years.="" years="">3
. There was a significant
difference (p<0 .05="" 190="" 2002="" 2012.="" 22="" 4="" 56="" 57="" age="" between="" disappearing="" economic="" forest.="" from="" harvested.="" harvested="" i="" in="" logging="" of="" off-reserves="" on="" out="" ranged="" reserve="" revealed="" sampled="" species="" that="" the="" timber="" to="" trees="" trend="" were="" whilst="" years.="" years="">Celtis zenkeri, Triplochiton
scleroxylon, Piptadeniastrum africanum, Celtis mildbreadii and
Ceiba pentandra were the most exploited species. The New National Forest
Plantation Development Program has not been able to meet its intended
target, introduced to bridge the gap between rates of extraction and planting.
Only 1163.77 hectares were planted out of the total target of 2164.80 hectares
during the period 2010 - 2013. The principles for achieving the goals of
Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) and urgent conservation measures must be
monitored to mitigate the consequences of forest degradation in Ghana.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the forest area of
Ghana covered about 34 percent of the total land. Forest reservation started in
Ghana in 1927 by the Colonial administration and ensured the reservation of 11
percent of the Country's total land area.
In all, 282 forest reserves and 15 wildlife protected areas,
occupying more than 38,000 sq.km or about 16 percent of the total land area
were established and gazetted in Ghana. There was an additional 4,000 sq.km of
forest outside this gazetted area. The main aim of the reservation programme
was to ensure the protection of substantial areas of forest but the process of
forest land reservation ignored the traditional tenure system, which led to a
negative attitude to reserves among the population, especially in forest fringe
communities. This situation was aggravated by a failure to inform forest
communities of their usufruct rights and by focusing of forest management on
forest protection by the Central Government (Ghana Gazette, 2004).
According to Dei (1990), deforestation has claimed an
enormous toll through the ages in environmental damage, economic deterioration
and human misery. For various reasons such as logging and clearing for cash
crops cultivation, the rainforest in Ghana has been decreasing rapidly and
significantly. Since 1981, the annual rate of deforestation in Ghana has been
two percent per year or 750 hectares each year. Ghana s tropical forest area is
now just 25 percent of its original size. The impact of deforestation is
widespread, affecting the livelihoods of local people, disrupting important
environmental functions and severely disturbing the biological integrity of the
forest ecosystem.
There is a serious concern in the region about climate
change, soil erosion and large-scale desertification.
Since the colonial era, the exploitation of timber for
commercial purposes has been part of the Ghanaian economy. But it is only since
the start of the economic reform program known as Economic Recovery Program
(ERP) in 1981 that deforestation has become a serious concern for the
environmental balance of the region. Today, timber is Ghana s third most
important export commodity after cocoa and minerals. Timber exports have
increased in terms of volume and revenue since the start of the ERP, rising
from $16 million in 1983 to 100 million in 1988 (Dei, 1992).
Population increase has increased the pressure on forest land
for cultivation of arable and tree crops. Sustainable Forest Management (SFM),
a system of management that gives room to the judicious harvesting and utilization
of forest resources without jeopardizing the future, is the brain behind forest
management in developed countries. SFM was defined as the stewardship and use
of forests and forestlands in a way, and at a rate, that maintains their
biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and potential to
fulfil, now and in the future, relevant ecological, economic and social
functions, at local national, and global levels, and does not cause damage to
other ecosystems (Briner, 2004).
The data on the rate of timber production and harvesting in
Ghana are deficient due to poor record keeping system and blithe attitude of
Ghanaian civil servants. Where these data are available, they are not well
studied and analysed. As a result, it has been so difficult to compare the rate
of forest harvesting with the regeneration potential of the natural forests.
This would have formed the premise on which forestry planning and development should rest like
in the developed nations that have committed substantial amount of fund to
monitor growth and harvesting in their natural forests and plantations.
Consequently, there is the need to carry out a field research
for estimating the rate at which economic tropical hardwood timber species are
removed from the tropical forest ecosystem of Ghana. This work therefore,
assessed the rate of timber harvesting in the tropical ecosystem of Ghana,
using BibianiAnhwiasoBekwai (BAB) Forest District as a case study, and also to
find out whether this rate of extraction is in conformity with the Annual
Allowable Cut (AAC) set aside by the Forestry Commission, and its consequences
on sustainable forest resources management.
1.2 Main Objective
To determine the rate of extraction of timber species in the
Bibiani Anhwiaso Bekwai Forest District.
1.3 Specific
Objectives
The specific objectives of this project are:
To identify and classify tree species extracted from the
district over a period of 11 years (2002-2012) and during the year 2013.
To determine the age of the trees that are being logged/
exploited during the year 2013.
To determine the frequency and abundance of tree species that
are being extracted during the year 2013.
To compare the rate of extraction between on and off-
reserves over a period of 11 years.
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===================================================================Item Type: Ghanaian Topic | Size: 80 pages | Chapters: 1-5
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