Edtorial by Ghanaian Times: Serious conservation can increase forest contribution to GDP

A study conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in collaboration with the Forestry Commission (FC), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and Warner School of Forestry of the Uni­versity of Georgia in the USA in 2022 as a sequel or follow-up to a 2014 one has revealed the declin­ing contribution of the forestry sector to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

While in 2014, the sector, par­ticularly forest products, and log­ging, contributed 2.0 percent of the country’s GDP in the sum of GH¢10.83 billion, the findings of the study commissioned in 2022 state that from 2014 to 2023, the contribution of the forest sector to the GDP on the average was 1.5 percent.

This must call for concern because a forest is one natural resource, which, when kept in shape, has a huge importance for the society that owns it.

Forests offer ser­vices such as providing food, wa­ter, wood, medicine, and numer­ous other products that society uses daily.

They also facilitate numerous regulating services such as carbon sequestration, flood control, plant pollination, and water filtration.

Besides, they are habitats for numerous animals and flora.

Forests are generally sources of livelihood for some people such as loggers, hunters, herbal medicine practitioners, and their assistants.

The experts say generally that forests are integral to the country’s economy and socie­tal well-being, as they support livelihoods, provide food and raw materials, contribute to climate resilience, and sustain agriculture.

In spite of these benefits, which underpin the survival of society, it is clear that forests in Ghana are not well taken care of.

It is unavoidable that as the popu­lation grows, there will be the need for agricultural expansion to produce more food to feed the growing population.

However, such an undertaking must be orderly, not haphazardly as the case is now regulated by law or proper rules.

In the olden days, members of the society abided by traditional rules and regulations as to their use of land and how to deal with forests.

Fuel wood collection and the creation of more settlements to meet growing populations today also undermine forest conser­vation, which was a norm for society in the past to derive all the benefits the forest existed to provide.

Today, people, particularly, illegal loggers and illegal miners, do not care about the conservation of the forest as they are only in­terested in what they can exploit from it for their selfish gains.

The result is that most of the benefits that can formally contribute to the country’s GDP are lost.