According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, African forests are being cut down at nearly twice the rate of the world’s deforestation average. There are a multitude of reasons for this shift, such as rising populations, expansion of agricultural production, as well as growing mining and logging industries. This issue of deforestation is likely to cause several harmful ramifications, including water shortages, increased soil erosion, a decrease in biodiversity, and, of course, increased temperatures. Moreover, as reported in an article by Earth.org, despite the rate of deforestation decreasing globally in the past 2 decades, in Africa, this number has actually been increasing over the same timeframe. Ghana, in particular, has been struggling to combat this issue, as over the last 20 years as the nation has lost over 14% of its primary forested areas, resulting in a loss of 5% of its total tree cover. The overwhelming majority of this deforestation has come as a result of the expansion of agriculture, primarily increasing the growth of cocoa, for which Ghana is one of the world's largest providers. 

 

Our mission was simple: play a small part in returning plants and trees to some of the most deforested areas in the Bono and Ashanti regions. Thanks to our collaborations with the Ghana Lands Commission, we managed to plant hundreds of trees to reclaim several acres in areas with noticeable decreases in forest cover. We have also begun efforts to formulate sustainable sawdust charcoal alternatives in order to reduce the logging that fuels societal dependencies on wood for everyday cooking.