Degradation of Forest Reserves in Asunafo Forest District, Ghana

Abstract

Forest reserve degradation is a global concern because it is a storage facility of global biodiversity. In addition, forest reserves contain the wealth of several poor countries, particularly in Africa. Such is the situation in Ghana, which possesses portions of the tropical African rainforest. The timber species thereof has been harvested to create wealth since the 1800s. The wealth of the soils for cocoa production was realised in the first decade of the nineteenth century in Asunafo. Hence, the desire to reserve portions of the forest as protected areas began in 1910. Therefore, the aim of this study is an investigation of the degradation of the forest reserves of Asunafo. The methods of the study include a survey of farmers, key informant interviews, community meetings, and transect drives. The results reveal a progressive increase in the human population, expansion of settlements, and a drastic reduction in the forest reserves by –24.59%. The timber industry, cocoa farming, and population increase have caused forest reserve degradation, a loss of wildlife habitats, an out-migration of elephants, buffalos, and chimpanzees, a loss of plant biodiversity, and an invasion by weeds. The Government of Ghana should increase efforts to halt forest reserve degradation.

1. Introduction

The theme of this chapter is to provide a warning signal that forest reserves have also come under attack by human-induced changes resulting in forest degradation. This situation is threatening because the forest reserves in question form part of Africa’s tropical rainforest. Hence, the issues of global change in the twenty-first century equally apply to forest reserve degradation. Factors responsible for these changes are global warming and the associated abnormal water shortages [drought and dry spells], land use changes, biological invasion, loss of biodiversity, changes in gas emissions, and ozone layer changes [1, 2]. These changes are experienced globally or happen in isolated locations but are ubiquitous in spread to constitute a global change [1]. This chapter places in context, the general factors driving global change in forest degradation. These include increases in population, nation states’ strife to achieve economic development, and the use of resources amid technology application [3]. The problem of forest reserves, particularly, the ones located in the African tropical rainforest, is the rapidity of the global change. Steffen et al. [4] put global change into an environmental context in which the Earth’s biosphere is lively but is rapidly affected by the consequences of human activities, which threaten the very sustainability of the biosphere on which the survival of humans depends. Generally, global change and global environmental change are often used interchangeably beginning with Earth systems or planetary-scale changes [5]. Pyhälä et al. [5] argue that global change research often uses a top-down approach (global model), but the bottom-up approach (local to global) is more desirable because of the use of primary data and remedies that occur at all levels.

Within the biosphere, the basic unit of analysis is an ecosystem [6]. Besides the constant flux in the ecosystem, and temporary or progressive change, the impact of global change on the ecosystem is undeniable [7, 8]. The consequential impacts on forest ecosystems are the widespread forest degradation in discrete locations constituting global-scale forest ecosystem adverse change [1, 7]. Wildfires, diseases, invasive species, insect pests, and extreme climatic events are degrading global forests [9]. These degradation factors have impeded efforts at enhancing biodiversity conservation and food and fiber security [10]. It must be added that portions of global-scale degraded forests have gone beyond recovery levels (forest loss) [11].

In terms of forest reserve degradation, some gaps still exist in the literature. However, the literature indicates a common methodology of forest reserve degradation research as the use of remote sensing and geographic information systems. Even though the methods of research are similar different results often come out revealing striking additions to knowledge. Akingbogun et al. [12] used remote sensing techniques and geographic information systems analysis to reveal that forest reserves found closer to major African cities suffer from pressures of population increase and human abuse. These factors are converting large portions of the reserves into bare ground. Using similar methods of research, Mutesi et al. [13] showed human factors such as population increase, poverty, and harvesting of forest reserve resources in rural areas have degraded forest reserves. The reserve has substantially changed to shrub land. Pacheco-Angulo et al. [14] indicated that deforestation and forest degradation are abusive to forest reserves and that the former releases a lot more carbon dioxide emissions than the latter. Deforestation and forest degradation are primarily driven by charcoal production, firewood collection, and logging. The rest of the driving forces are infrastructure development and crop farming. These factors exacerbate climate change impacts, land degradation, and biodiversity loss [15]. Even though Orimoogunje [16] also revealed deforestation and forest degradation, the study found forest regeneration propelled by local community control and enforcement of rules. Again, the degradation was one in which original species of the forest were being replaced by species tolerant of the factors of global change. Maghah and Fokeng [17] added to the degradation factors eucalyptus colonization and livestock grazing in the forest reserve leading to forest loss. The migration of large herds of cattle to settle in areas near forest reserves is an increasing phenomenon in West Africa [17]. Sinasson et al. [18] reveal the harm of forest degradation on non-timber forest resources; that, their regeneration is seriously decreasing. It is apparent from the above that grass invasion, loss of prominent plant species, and out-migration of some keystone animal species, as aspects of forest reserve degradation constitute gaps in the literature that warrant further research; and this study reports in this chapter on catering of the gaps.

2. Methodology

2.1 Theoretical underpinnings

The Malthusian theory argues that “the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man” ([19], p. 13). The disequilibrium between population growth and food supply would lead to unsustainable exploitation of land resources and eventually cause forest degradation. This would inevitably affect the political economy, family life, prosperity, good citizenry, and marriage life. Subsequently, living standards, disease, famine, infant mortality, mob action, and political dictatorship would increase resulting in misery, vice, and moral restraint ([20], pp. 5–19). Could population growth be an aggravating factor in the process of forest degradation at Asunafo? The Malthusian theory becomes useful in addressing this question. On the contrary, Boserup [21] posits that instead of environmental degradation, the population increase would bring about sustainable environmental management through agricultural intensification and a rise in cropping frequency. This would be occasioned by increased technology, which would help to expand productivity to cater for the needs of the increased population. Consequently, productivity would increase. As this happens, market prices, substitutes, inventions, and government policies would control environmental degradation. However, the failure of the market economy and policies to efficiently manage, develop, and allocate resources would exacerbate environmental degradation.

2.2 Data sourcing and analysis

Data sourcing began with desk study through literature review, computer generation of study sites, and secondary data gathering. Specific secondary data include the following: historical records (1700–2000) on Ahafo District; rainfall, humidity, and temperature for Goaso synoptic station, and satellite images of Asunafo for 1986, 2003, and 2020 [22, 23, 24]. The desk research was followed by a 4-day drive across the districts. The drives included trips from:

• Goaso through Ayomso, Ayum, and Bonkoni Forest Reserves to Dominase.

• Goaso – Dantano – Akrodie – Ayum, and Subim Forest Reserves – Asummura.

• Goaso through Mim, Bediako, and Dominase, and ended at Kasapin.

• Goaso through Kukuom, Nobeko, Kwapong, Sankore, and Camp No. 1 to Abuom.

The next step was the verification of the selected 21 case study communities. The selection process was informed by Ghana Statistical Service’s choice of the 20 largest communities in each district in the country ([25], p. 54). However, Goaso, Kukuom, Mim, Kwapong, and Sankore were replaced by nearby communities because of lack of logistics to cater for such large towns.

Subsequently, 21 community meetings were organized early in the morning for farmers in each community. Attendance of the meetings was recorded in a field notebook, and the proceedings were recorded on audio cassettes. About eight (8) farmers attended the smallest meeting, while 81 farmers attended the largest meeting. The total number of farmers who attended the 21 meetings was 774, and they formed the population frame for the study. A sample size of 264 farmers was selected based on a formula: n = N/1 + N(e)2. About 15 research assistants were drawn from third and fourth-year undergraduate students to assist in the data gathering through the administration of questionnaires, key informant interviews, and personal observation. The rest were transect drives, community meetings, field visits, and photography. Archival data on Ahafo District were provided by the Regional Public Records and Archives Administration (PRAAD) of the Brong Ahafo Region. The study categorizes the period for a considerable outcome into three, namely: short-term, medium-term, and long-term. The short-term deals with a period of fewer than 2 years, the medium-term ranges between 2 and 6 years, and the long-term considers more than 6 years. Data analysis involved the use of ENVI 4.3, ArcGIS 9.3, SPSS, and Microsoft Excel.

3. Results and discussion

3.1 Sociodemographics of the Asunafo area

According to the 1960 population census of Ghana, about 48,043 people occupied Asunafo. The 1970 population was 82,275, that is, about a 71% increase between 1960 and 1970. There was a 49% increase in population between 1970 and 1984 to 122,585. The population again increased by 43% between 1984 and 2000 to 174,026 ([26], p. xx; [27], p. 8; [28], p. 29). Currently, the population of Asunafo South District is 91,693 and that of Asunafo North Municipal District is 150,198. The total of Asunafo is 241,891 from the 2021 population and housing census (http://asunafonorth.ghanadistricts.gov.gh/).

In terms of human occupancy of the Asunafo area, the indigenes were Ahafo. The Ahafo and other migrated Akan people constitute about 68.8% of the population. The rest of the people are from the following ethnic groups: Mole-Dagbani (13.8%), Ewe (5%), Ga-Dangme (3.3), Gurma (3.1%), Guan (1.8%), Grusi (1.6%), Mende (1.5%), and foreigners (1.1%). The largest percentage of the people (86%) depend on fuel wood for cooking, while 9.3% use charcoal. Apart from these fuel sources, kerosene (1.1%), gas (0.6%), electricity (0.5%), coconut husk/maize stock (0.1%), others (0.1%), and none/no cooking (2.2%) have also been recorded ([29], p. 30, 55).

The two dominant economic activities at Asunafo are farming and logging. These activities have long histories. Farming history began in 1900 and timber activities in 1947 ([30]: 167). Individual smallholder farmers normally crop an average of 1.75 acres for food and 5 acres for cocoa ([31], p. 15). Many farmers grow cocoa while a few add oil palm and citrus. Plantain (Musa ABB) is the most important subsistence food crop. Large timber firms with huge export capacities have also carried out timber extraction. Notable ones include Mim Timber Company and Gliksten West Africa Limited. Competition between large and small timber merchants has been riffed in the area.

There are three relevant state institutions about forest reserves in Asunafo. The institutions are the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), and the Forestry Commission. The mission of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is to offer quality agricultural services, sustainably enhance the growth and development of the sector, ensure farmer collaboration with the private sector, improve food security, and ensure the conservation of natural resources. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture, in the Brong Ahafo Region, has observed that soil fertility replenishment through natural fallow is inadequately poor in the region. This reason underlies the Ministry of Food and Agriculture’s training of 51 farmers in the region on sedentary farming systems, land and water management as well as tree cover depletion minimization [32]. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture maintains a District Agricultural Office, which takes care of agricultural activities in the two Asunafo Districts. About the COCOBOD, three offices operate separately at Asunafo: Quality Control Company (QCC), Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease Control Unit (CSSVDCU), and Seed Production Unit (SPU). They are located in Goaso. The Quality Control Company supervises the work of cocoa buying companies. “The mission of the QCC is to develop and provide systematic strategies that will ensure the supply of best grade cocoa and other produce both on the local and international markets” [33]. The CSSVDCU and SPU are, however, indirectly related to land degradation control. The CSSVDCU works directly with cocoa farmers by spraying farms and providing appropriate cocoa agrochemicals. It is solely responsible for the government’s free and mass cocoa spraying. The SPU develops cocoa seeds and seedlings for planting. The Forestry Commission maintains two offices at Asunafo – Wildlife Division and Forestry. Both offices are located at Goaso. Its mission is “to sustainably develop and manage Ghana’s forestry and wildlife” ([34]: 1). Forestry Commission is specifically concerned with the protection and management of “permanent forest estates and protected areas in the various ecological zones of the country to conserve Ghana’s biophysical heritage” ([34]: 1). It also has the responsibility of “advising and providing technical services for forest plantation for restoration of degraded forest and environmental conservation in general” ([34]: 3). The mandate of the Forestry Commission is confined to the protected areas.

3.2 Land use and land cover changes between 1986 and 2020

In this section, the focus is on the close forest (which constitutes the forest reserve). There are six (6) forest reserves, namely Abonyere, Ayum, Bia-Tano, Bonkoni, Bonsam Bepo, and Subim. They contain several economic trees. For instance, Aboniyere contains 37 timber species, Ayum 40, Bia-Tano 56, Bonkoni 43, Bosam Bepo 36, and Subim 40. Figure 1 shows a portion of the Ayum Forest Reserve.

Figure 1.

A section of the Ayum Forest reserve.

The information generated through community meetings and key informant interviews suggests that Asunafo used to be a dense forest. This belief is supported by historical records, which indicate that the general land cover type of Asunafo was a thick forest dotted with human settlements [35, 36], although the intensity and extent of forest cover have decreased with time. For instance, a vegetation map of Ghana produced in 1921 shows a forest land cover divided into evergreen and deciduous forest cover types. Figures 2 and 3 show a portion of the floor of the Bonkoni Forest Reserve indicating lianes and climbers.

Figure 2.

A portion of the floor of Bonkoni Forest reserve with lianes and climbers shown behind the researchers with dim.

Figure 3.

A portion of the floor of the Bonkoni Forest reserve with sunshine.

Figure 4 pre-dates the creation of forest reserves in 1939. The red box depicts the land cover types in Asunafo during the 1920s. The western half of the Asunafo area shows evergreen forest while the eastern side portrays deciduous forest. Detailed characteristics of the forest indicate that:

Figure 4.

Vegetation map of Ghana in 1921, Evergreen and deciduous Forest of Asunafo in the red box The citation ''Forestry Commission, 2008; Potapov et el., 2017'' has been changed to match the date in the reference list. Please check here and in subsequent occurrences, and correct if necessary.source: [37]: 13.

The evergreen forest in general consists of trees forming a closed canopy from 20 to 150 feet or more in height, and interlaced by innumerable wood lianes. Below, where the light is sufficient to permit it, is a mass of shrubs from a few inches to several feet high, bound together by lesser wood lianes and herbaceous climbers and interspersed with tall herbs. As a rule, the smaller herbaceous flora is scanty but varies considerably according to the amount of light that is permitted through the canopy ([37]: 14).

However, the deciduous forest in its original state has an upper layer of dominant trees that show a single crown. Underneath, the crowns of the middle layer trees form a closed canopy. The forest floor is made of shrubs, lianes, climbers, and herbaceous cover depending on the amount of sunshine received. Trees, especially, the dominant ones shed their leaves during the Harmattan season ([37]: 17). The community meetings revealed that tree cover has drastically reduced due to logging. As a result, grasses and Euphorbia heterophylla have invaded portions of the forest reserve.

In Figure 5, it is obvious that the close forest has been declining in size from 56.3% in 1986 to 54% in the year 2003 to 51.8% in the year 2020.

Figure 5.

Land use and land cover change between the years 1986, 2003, and 2020.

The farmers of the area have observed a decline in the close forest (forest reserves). In the community meetings, farmers described the close forest decline as reduced tree cover and replacement of the dense forest with grass and shrubs. The study has verified the claim by farmers using satellite images of different years. Figures 6–8 respectively indicate land use and land cover types for 1986, 2003, and 2020 satellite images. These images were downloaded from the path/row 195/55. In the analysis, the land use/cover classification includes four classes. The land use/cover classes include: close forest (very dense canopy formed by tree crowns mainly in the forest reserves), open forest (varied from a dense bush fallow through cocoa farms with isolated tree crowns to mixed food crop farms), shrubland/grasses (made up of a variety of shrubs and grasses as well as bare ground), and bare/settlements (were human habitations either dispersed or nucleated built up surfaces).

Figure 6.

Land use/cover map of Asunafo north and south for 1986.

Figure 7.

Land use/cover map of Asunafo north and south for 2003.

Figure 8.

Land use/cover map of Asunafo north and south for 2020.

The Landsat TM 1986 shows that:

• the close forest was the largest land cover type at Asunafo in 1986, which occupied about 56.3% of the area under study.

• The Landsat ETM+ 2003 shows that:

• between 1986 and 2003, the close forest remained the largest land cover type with 54% space of the Asunafo forest.

• The Landsat ETM+ 2020 clearly shows that 17 years on (that is, 2003–2020):

• the close forest maintained the largest portion of the Asunafo forest with 51.8%.

Figure 9 shows a summary of the win-loss of forest space from the years 1986–2003, 2003–2020, and 1986–2020. The three scenarios indicate that bare land and settlement gain spaces from the other land use/cover in all three situations. The same applies to shrub land and grassland. However, there is a mixture of wins and losses for the open forest category. The close forest displayed a decline (degradation).

Figure 9.

Land use/cover net change (%) from 1986 to 2003, from 2003 to 2020, and from 1986 to 2020 for Asunafo north and south.

Table 1 shows the exchange of land use/cover types in the three different periods of 17 years breaks.

A: From the year 1986 to 2003
Year		2003				Total_1986	Loss_1986
	Land use/ Land Cover	Builtup	Shrub/ grassland	Open forest	Close forest
1986	Bareland/settlement	0.31	0.07	0.14	0.15	0.68	0.36
	Shrubland/grassland	0.03	0.03	0.12	0.12	0.30	0.27
	Open forest	0.48	2.08	6.38	13.94	22.88	16.50
	Close forest	1.16	5.84	29.13	40.01	76.14	36.13
	Total_2003	1.98	8.02	35.77	54.22	100.00	53.27
Gain_2003		1.67	7.99	29.39	14.21	53.27
B: From the year 2003 to 2020
Year		2020				Total_2003	Loss_2003
2003	Bareland/settlement	1.22	0.36	0.24	0.16	1.98	0.76
	Shrubland/grassland	1.30	2.24	2.73	1.74	8.02	5.78
	Open forest	1.65	6.22	11.64	16.27	35.77	24.13
	Close forest	1.32	5.26	14.26	33.38	54.22	20.84
	Total_2020	5.49	14.08	28.87	51.56	100.00	51.51
Gain_2020		4.27	11.84	17.23	18.17	51.51
C: From the year 1986 to 2020
Year		2020				Total_1986	Loss_1986
1986	Bareland/settlement	0.33	0.08	0.12	0.14	0.67	0.34
	Shrubland/grassland	0.05	0.04	0.07	0.14	0.30	0.26
	Open forest	1.27	3.44	7.64	10.52	22.88	15.24
	Close forest	3.84	10.52	21.03	40.75	76.14	35.39
Total_2020		5.49	14.08	28.87	51.56	100.00	51.22
Gain_2020		5.16	14.03	21.23	10.80	51.22

Table 1.

Land use/cover change matrix (%) for Asunafo north and south.

Between 1986 and 2003, the close forest gained a space of 14.21% but lost to the other land uses/covers a space of 36.13%. There was a difference of −21.29% of losses for the close forest. Between 2003 and 2020, the gains in forest space for the close forest were about 18.17%. Once again, there were losses of space to the other land uses/cover of about 20.84%. The difference is a negative value of about −2.67%. In the third scenario, between 1986 and 2020, the gains in forest spaces were about 10.80% and the losses were 35.39% with a negative difference of about −24.59%.

3.3 Driving forces and pressures responsible for the forest reserve degradation

From the discussion on the sociodemographics, the increases in the human population have a resultant effect on the spaces required for settlements. Hence, settlement creation is a major factor in the degradation of forest reserves. In the specific case of Asunafo, archival records indicate that the area was a virgin or dense forest inhabited by several wildlife particularly elephants, chimpanzees, and buffaloes [35, 38, 39]. Human impact on the dense forest was limited and restricted to settlement creation, food gathering, and hunting. However, the introduction of cocoa farming in the 1902 and export of timber industries in the 1940s have caused drastic deforestation ([30]: 167; [40]: 26). In Ghana, areas that have suffered deforestation are reportedly undergoing land degradation ([41]: 1).

Another cause of deforestation of the forest reserves in Asunafo is timber extraction. It was the timber contractors that opened the closed forest by building roads. These roads were made for use by tractors and caterpillars, and some of the roads were motorable by timber-carrying vehicles [42]. Figure 10 is an example of a road through the Bonkoni Forest Reserve taken during the field visits.

Figure 10.

A new timber road through the Bonkoni Forest reserve, showing the destruction of vegetation and rich topsoil.

The timber companies also cleared large portions of the forest reserves in some central places where the timber logs were assembled and later loaded on the timber-carrying trucks to be transported to the sawmills. According to Logan [43], the exports of timber logs from the Gold Coast began in the year 1888 with Mahogany. The Forestry Department of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) started in 1909. In 1911, the Forest Bill was passed by the legislative council, and in 1927, the Forest Ordinance was made law. These dates are provided to show the early attempts at conserving the close forest. However, timber merchants continued with timber extraction. By 1927, several millions of Mahogany were exported from the country and a shortage in the forest began to be felt by the Forestry Department ([43], pp. 52). After independence in the year 1957, the timber industry continued to operate within the close forest with little or insignificant difference. Two timber extraction companies that caused massive deforestation in the Asunafo area are W. A. Gliksten Limited and Mim Timber Company. Together, the two foreign-owned companies exported about 80% of their timber output [40, 44]. In addition to small local timber merchants, there were medium to large-scale Ghanaian-owned timber firms in Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions that extracted timber from Asunafo. No wonder, Asunafo Forest suffered from timber shortages as early as 1965 [45]. Figure 11 shows a truck with timber logs from the Asunafo forest area. Previously, a truck of this nature could carry one log or a maximum of two logs due to the sizes of the logs. Presently, five or more logs are carried by the same truck size.

Figure 11.

A truck with timber logs from the Asunafo forest area.

The human population follows several livelihood options. The main livelihood of the people of Asunafo has been cocoa farming. Clearing of the closed forest for cocoa farming was another aggravating factor in the close forest degradation. According to Logan [43], the native Ghanaian communal land holding turned to private holdings due to the spread of cocoa farms. Before 1923, the Government had realized the threats of cocoa farming to the closed forest. The preparation of land for cocoa meant the felling of large trees to allow the sunlight to reach the cocoa plants, and it started as early as the first decade of the twentieth century [42]. The rich farmers manage relatively larger cocoa farms. The poor often maintain smaller cocoa farms and rely solely on income from cocoa and the sale of labor on daily basis as “by-day laborers”. The forest vegetation, climate, and associated edaphic features were supportive of cocoa farming. After the opening of the dense forest with accessible roads by Mim Timber Company and W. A. Gliksten Limited in the 1940s, the transportation of dry cocoa beans and carting of other farm produce became possible. Another reason was the high-income returns generated from cocoa farming. Again, the land was owned by families; hence, industrious members of the family took to cocoa farming due to easy entry requirements such as the acquisition of simple farm implements and family labor. The farmers experienced low crop yields because of the old cocoa trees. Some of the cocoa trees from 1921 are still available and are called “Tetteh Quarshie.” Figure 12 shows cocoa agroforestry, and Figure 13 displays cocoa trees alone.

Figure 12.

Cocoa agroforestry at Asunafo Forest area.

Figure 13.

A section of a cocoa farm at Asunafo with no tree cover.

In the case of the Asunafo forest area, mining of gold and other minerals is still not a focus of forest degradation. Since the year 1983 wildfire, which destroyed the forest reserves, the Forestry Commission has been able to keep the forest reserve from fire outbreaks.

3.4 The consequences of the forest reserve degradation

3.4.1 Loss of wildlife habitat

The farmers of the area have observed a drastic reduction and loss of wildlife in the Asunafo Forest area. An indicator of forest reserve degradation is the absence of traces of some wildlife notably elephants and chimpanzees as well as a drastic reduction in the tortoise and snails population. In addition, forest guards have not encountered buffalos for a long time. There is a drastic reduction in the population of deer, waterbucks, antelopes, and other wildlife species. There was a deliberate attempt to remove elephants from the Asunafo forest to allow cocoa farms to flourish. By so doing, forest guards were invited from Damongo Game Reserve to kill the elephants at Asunafo. Figure 14 displays the destruction of the elephant population for 39 years (1960–1999). Elephants and chimpanzees have migrated from the Asunafo forest due to the destruction of their habitat. Habitat destruction is an indication of forest reserve degradation. Presently, elephants and chimpanzees are no longer encountered directly or their traces are not found in the forest [34].

Figure 14.

Deliberate killing of elephants.

3.4.2 Loss of plant species

The harvesting of non-timber forest products has resulted in the dwindling of some plant species in the forest reserves such as “Anwonomo/Aworomo” (Aumatococcus daniefii), canes, and raphia palm. In the case of Garcinia spp., traditional chewing sticks for the cleaning of teeth, as a substitute to paste and toothbrush have gone extinct. The situation of the timber species in the forest reserves is crucial for forest degradation. It was very difficult to locate economic trees measuring 130 cm dbh (diameter at breast height) in the year 2001 in any of the forest reserves at Asunafo [34]. The forest ecosystem of Asunafo faces timber provision problems due to unsustainable timber activities.

3.4.3 Invasive species

The vehicular movement in the forest is believed to have introduced invasive species, particularly grass. There are progressive decreases in native species because of the increases in invasive species. The presence of Panicum maximum or Guinea grass, Pennisetum purpureum or elephant grass, and Rottboellia cochinchinensis or itchgrass is considered invasive because they are savanna species. Also, the key informant interviews and the farm visits reveal three other invasive weeds. The presence of any one of them indicates forest degradation. In addition to wildfire outbreaks, the traditional farming practices of slash and burn have supported the continuous migration and stay of such weeds. The weeds identified by farmers are Pupalia lappacea, Ageratum conyzoides (Asteraceae, Billy goat weed), and Spigelia loganiaceae. These weeds grow very fast, spread quickly, out-compete crops, and are successful invaders on native habitats [46].

4. Conclusion

The sociodemographic figures indicate a progressive population increase in the Asunafo forest area resulting from a natural increase in birth rate and overrun death rates due to increased and improvements in health care. A contributing factor is a migration to the forest area for greener pastures in the timber industry, cocoa farming, and hunting. It can be concluded from the analysis of land use/cover of the Asunafo forest area between 1986 and 2020 that the closed forest, which includes the forest reserves, has declined drastically by about −24.59%. The major causes of the depletion of the forest reserves are progressive population increases, activities of the timber industry, and cocoa farming by Ghanaians since the year 1921. The spread of wildfire during the 1982–1983 drought was a one-time contributing factor. However, mining activities for gold and other minerals play no part in the forest reserve degradation for now. The consequential timber and cocoa farming industries have negative repercussions on the forest reserves resulting in degradation. Their effects have been aggravated by the expansion and spread of human settlement around the forest reserves. For instance, wildlife habitats are lost leading to the out-migration of elephants, buffalos, and chimpanzees. In addition, several plant species are either extinct or suffered a serious reduction in productivity. A deliberate government response is required to restore the Asunafo Forest Reserves to a desirable state.