TODAY’S WOODLAND DEGRADATION, TOMORROW’S FUELWOOD CRISIS

FACTORS AFFECTING SUSTAINABLE FUELWOOD COLLECTION

The savanna woodlands are the main source of fuelwoodfor the urban centres of Ghana.

Howeversocio-economic factors have led to lack of will toprotect the woodlands against human induced factorswhich militate sustainable woodland management.Woodlands in KND have been exploited and are underpressure to play their live-supporting functions.Firewood harvesting and charcoal production havebecome major economic activities in the ruralcommunities.

The current pressure on woodlandsprompts the world that, today’s woodland degradationis tomorrow’s fuelwood crisis.

Focused GroupDiscussions were used to identify biophysical andsocio-economic factors affecting fuelwood collection.Remote sensing and participatory mapping were used tomap the land cover and the fuelwood collection sites.Land tenure is a control against exploitation ofwoodlands in Kunsu.

Woodland declined by 25%.

Thisbook re-echoes the fact that our woodlands arediminishing drastically and the need to embark ontree plantations to supplement the natural woodlands.This book is helpful to fuelwood managers,researchers in climate change adaptation and copingstrategies, NGOs fighting against woodland degradation.