Native trees near extinction: Felled for firewood, charcoal in the north
The survival of indigenous and native trees have come under major threat with an upsurge in the felling of economic trees in the Savannah Ecological Zone.
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Some of these species include dawadawa, baobab, shea, Bombax, Marula, Lanea and Jujube.
Large tracts of these species, which serves as major source of livelihood to rural population, particularly women, are going extinct due to the indiscriminate feeling of the trees for charcoal and firewood.
Indigenous and native trees preserve the unique landscape and give localities their unique vegetative character.
The tree species possess a lot of economic and medicinal benefits for communities, while also contributing significantly to addressing issues of climate change.
In northern Ghana, where these climate and weather resistant native trees are found, they are near extinction due to deforestation, which is adversely affecting communities and the ecosystem.
Situation
Checks revealed that a number of these trees in the Savannah Ecological Zone have been destroyed by charcoal burners, with the Savannah, North East and Upper West regions being severely affected.
A recent tour of some communities saw chainsaw operators busy at work, with charcoal burners, most of whom were women, in the bushes parking the logs to burn charcoal, while others had also parked the charcoal into sacks to be transported to the market.
Firewood and charcoal are the major sources of energy in the rural areas and to some extent the peri-urban and urban areas of northern Ghana.
These have also become major sources of income for rural inhabitants, particularly women, as most of them depend on them for survival.
The situation has, therefore, ejected pressure on the already depleting vegetative cover as people continue to fell the trees with impunity.
Pragmatic measures
An Environmental Advocate, Jerimiah Seidu, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, expressed worry about the development and said if pragmatic measures were not taken to address the menace, it would affect the livelihood of rural women, as well as draw back the fight against climate change.
He said several women had already started bearing the brunt and were complaining of the dwindling dawadawa pick which was affecting their income and livelihood.
He, therefore, called on the government and various stakeholders to pay close attention to what was happening to the economic trees in the savanna ecological zone, especially dawadawa and shea, and come out with a pragmatic approach to address the menace.
At an environmental restoration campaign at Gundaa-Gizaa in the Kumbungu District, the chief of the area, Sabog-naa John Mahama Yakubu, lamented that the community was currently feeling the direct impact of climate change due to deforestation.
He noted that aside from restoring the environment, trees such as the dawadawa and Baobab were also a source of food and nutrients for the locals.
He explained that "for instance the dawadawa fruits are used for cooking very nutritious food, while the waste water is also used for plastering houses. Same can be said of the baobab leaves which is used for soup, while flour is also extracted from the fruits for preparing porridge and even Tuo Zaafi, a local dish.”
Women cry
In the midst of this, rural women who depended on native trees such as dawadawa, shea and Baobab trees for survival are bearing the brunt.
Alhassan Fuseina, 50-year-old woman at Gizaa, said she used to pick the dawadawa fruits in the wild and sell but now the tree has gone extinct in the area due to deforestation.
Another resident of Mion, Safia Mahama said, "my main source of livelihood is selling dawadawa but now, I find it difficult to get the seeds in this area because the trees are no more".
Deforestation
Deforestation is assuming high proportions in northern Ghana, especially the Savannah and Upper West regions as some unscrupulous persons have resorted to cutting down young and economic trees to sell as fuel wood and charcoal.
The phenomena is having a toll on the vegetative cover of the area, raising concerns about the climate change.
According to the Forestry Commission of Ghana, about 6.6 million hectares of Ghana’s 8.2 hectares of forest trees have been depleted over the years through indiscriminate human activities.
Currently, the country’s remaining forest cover of 1.6 million hectares is threatened by illegal mining, lumbering and other human activities.
This, therefore, calls for the need to adopt pragmatic measures to curb the indiscriminate feeling of the trees and restore the vegetative cover.
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