LAND USE TRAJECTORIES, FOREST COVER CHANGE AND THE CONSEQUENTIAL LAND DEGRADATION OF THE ASUNAFO FOREST, GHANA

Abstract

The paper examines causative factors of land cover change of the Asunafo forest in Ghana. And, investigate whether the replacement of dense forest by crop land and other opportunistic covers has resulted in land degradation. It is suggested that settlement expansion, smallholder farming, timber extraction, wood carving, bushfires and harvesting of non-timber forest products are causal factors of the land cover change. Based on census records, population increase could be considered as ultimate cause of the land cover change, particularly the activities of the proliferating smallholder cocoa farmers. However, timber extraction, which does not relate to population increase and bushfires which showed inverse relationship with population increase are proximate causes. The paper concludes that weed invasion, reduction in native flora and declined in resource base of non-timber forest products are indicative of occurrence of biological land degradation.