Forest area in Ghana 2008-2021

In 2021, Ghana had a forest area of nearly 80 thousand square kilometers. This represented roughly 35 percent of the country’s total land area. The total extent had expanded since 2016, when it stood at approximately 79.2 square kilometers. In contrast, between 2008 and 2015, the forest stretch followed a contracting trend. A forest area refers to land under natural or planted stands of trees of a minimum of five meters in situ, excluding trees in urban parks and gardens. Annually decreasing forest land In spite of the large tree extent in Ghana, the latter experiences constant forest and tree cover losses. In 2021, around 10.4 thousand hectares of primary forest were lost in the country, which was the highest area of forest lost since 2001. The primary cause of tree cover loss in Ghana is shifting agriculture, which usually emanates from small- and medium-scale agricultural activities. In 2019, over 80 thousand hectares of tree cover were lost from shifting agriculture. Ghana benefits from forestry Forest rents covered nearly four percent of Ghana’s GDP in 2020. This represented a slight growth in the contribution of forestry to the country’s economy. Specifically, the forestry and logging industry contributed over 1.8 million Ghanaian cedis, equivalent of 231 million U.S. dollars, to Ghana’s GDP in 2020.

2021年，加纳拥有约80万平方公里的森林面积，约占全国总面积的35%。自2016年以来，这一总面积有所扩张，当时约为79.2万平方公里。相较之下，在2008年至2015年期间，森林面积呈现缩减趋势。森林面积指的是地面自然生长或人工种植、树高在5米及以上的树木覆盖区域，不包括城市公园和花园中的树木。尽管加纳拥有庞大的树木覆盖面积，但该国仍面临着持续的森林和树木覆盖面积的减少。2021年，该国损失了约10.4千公顷的原生森林，这是自2001年以来森林损失面积最高的一年。加纳树木覆盖面积减少的主要原因是轮作农业，这通常源于中小型农业活动。2019年，由于轮作农业，有超过80千公顷的树木覆盖面积遭到破坏。加纳从林业中获益良多，2020年林业租金几乎占到了加纳国内生产总值的4%，这标志着林业对国家经济的贡献有所增长。具体而言，林业和伐木业在2020年为加纳国内生产总值贡献了超过1800万加纳塞地，约合2.31亿美元。