On the benefits of forests and why we must be concerned about their destruction

Forests! Many of us do not think much about their usefulness in our daily lives as we go about our activities. But that glass of water you drank possibly came from a forest; that medicine you bought from the medical store might have originated from a forest; the very air you breathe comes from trees possibly in a forest, and most importantly, our planet has not been obliterated by the sun's rays because of forests.

These are but a few of the numerous services that forests provide us. Unfortunately, however, we have not done so well to protect this useful resource – degradation of forests continues at terrifying rates.

Figures released by the Food and Agriculture Organization show that, globally, for the past ten years, we have lost close to 5 million hectares of forests annually [1]. This means that forests covering a land area comparable to the entire Kumasi are lost across the world every two days. Africa tops the chart when it comes to deforestation globally – about 4 million hectares of forests are lost every year.

In Ghana, the figures on the degradation of forests are frightening. Ghana's Forestry Commission reports that Ghana loses 2% of its forest cover each year [2]. Simply put, without any conscious attempt to protect our forests, Ghana may not have any forest cover in the next 50 years.

Specifically, in Kumasi, once the Garden city of Ghana, about half (46%) of the dense vegetation has been lost over the past three decades [3]. Even forest reserves across the country, which are supposed to be protected from the onslaught of deforestation, are being destroyed at an alarming rate – close to 1% of forest reserves are lost annually [4].

These forest reserves were created about 100 years ago (1927) by the British colonial administration to prevent over-exploitation of our forest resources [5]. But with current developments, Ghana may not have any forest reserves in the next century.

The driving forces behind the loss of our forest cover are numerous. They include illegal mining, unsustainable logging, agricultural encroachment into forests, charcoal burning, sand winning, and institutional and policy failures [6]. So why should we be concerned about the depletion of forests, and what can we do to address this problem?

To explain in simple terms, the sun's rays reach the earth every day, producing heat in the process. Some of this heat bounces back into space in the form of radiation, while some are trapped on earth. Trapping some of this heat on earth is good for us because the earth will be extremely cold without this. Carbon dioxide is among the gases that trap the heat from the sun and prevent it from leaving the earth.

Having more of this gas on our planet means that more heat will be trapped and prevented from leaving our planet – this is exactly what is happening today. There is so much carbon dioxide in our planet's atmosphere that our planet is virtually heating up quickly. According to the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the earth's temperature increased by 0.85°C between 1880 and 2012. If our planet's temperature should increase by more than 1.5°C, it is going to lead to catastrophic events on a global scale [7].

With more than 1.5°C warming of the planet, cities along the sea will be wiped off the face of the earth due to sea-level rise. This will affect billions of people because today, about 3 billion people in the world live within 200km of the sea [8].

Moreover, there will be extended drought periods affecting food and energy production, new forms of diseases will emerge, and some countries will experience excessive flooding due to increased rainfall. At the same time, water sources will dry up in other countries.

But forests, specifically, trees offer some respite. They soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide to reduce its concentration in the atmosphere, scientifically called carbon sequestration. Research shows that large trees store more carbon dioxide than smaller trees [9].

In fact, these same trees produce the oxygen which humans breathe in and naturally cool the environment through shading and evapotranspiration [10]. The cooling effect provided by one matured tree is comparable to five air conditioners working for twenty hours [11].

Particularly in cities, including Accra and Kumasi, trees are sorely needed to protect residents from urban heat and clean up the polluted city air, among others. Globally, trees are our natural defense against the catastrophic consequences of a warming planet.

Why then are we cutting down these trees and degrading our forests? The extensive destruction of forests due to the selfish interests of a few people is a clear demonstration of William Forster Lloyd's economic theory; the tragedy of the commons - a situation in which individuals' selfish interests lead to the collapse of the resources over which they compete.

Forests are being decimated because people have taken the abundance of forests to mean an absolute right to exploit them. This will inevitably end in ruin, not only for the few who are depleting them but for everyone.


We need to plant more trees instead of cutting them down, for they are humanity's lifeline – the lungs of the earth. In this regard, while we must vehemently resist the destruction of forest reserves, the initiative by the Government of Ghana to plant 20 million trees across the country is a step in the right direction and deserves commendation.

It must be emulated and strongly supported by religious bodies and traditional authorities. For the next generation's sake, we need to act now because our children may not have any forests.

"A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit." — Greek Proverb

Religious bodies and traditional authorities must spearhead the fight against deforestation because government leadership is transient, but these institutions could make it their priority and ensure that tree planting becomes an annual ritual beyond the tenure of government leadership.

Presently, scientists have successfully developed trees that grow bigger and faster through gene editing and therefore soak up more carbon dioxide [12]. This is a giant leap in the right direction as part of efforts to save our planet. Research in this area should be supported locally so that more of such trees will be produced and planted while concerted efforts are taken to protect our forests.

In the protection of forests, one key solution can be considered by authorities – charcoal briquette production from sawdust and coconut husk. In Kumasi's wood village, Sokoban, huge quantities of unused sawdust are set on fire each day, polluting the environment. However, this is a fuel source.

A recent study [13] in the area showed that the woodworkers are willing to cooperate and support a sawdust briquette production since this would rid the area of the colossal quantities of unused sawdust from their site and provide additional benefits through income and employment generation.

Local authorities and interested private entities need to partner with researchers to assess the feasibility, market demand analysis, and cost-benefit analysis of establishing these briquette factories alongside major wood villages in the country. This will go a long way to reducing dependence on trees as a source of fuel significantly.

To cap it all, we must note that we are all in the same ship, and if or when this ship sinks, we all sink with it. If we do not rethink the imprudent exploitation of natural resources due to our unlimited desires, we are headed towards a bitter ending.

"Only after the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we cannot eat money." – Jared Diamond.