Commercial extraction of rosewood and its Implication for the livelihood of rural households in Wa east district.

Abstract

Rosewood, one of Ghana's ten most important timber species, is endangered and may become extinct as a result of selective and excessive harvesting. This, however, has consequences for the environment as well as rural livelihoods. In this case, the study looked at how commercial rosewood extraction affects rural communities in the Wa East District. To gather data, the researcher used purposive sampling for the chiefs, land owners, assembly members and Forestry Commission officials while the simple random sampling was used to select household respondents. Three hundred and twenty one respondents took part, and data was collected qualitatively and quantitatively utilizing an interview schedule literature guide. In order to analyze the quantitative data, descriptive statistics were used. Thematic analysis was also utilized to analyse the qualitative data and find themes that needed to be investigated further. This study discovered that over the years, Wa East populations have been subjected to extensive commercial rosewood exploitation, particularly by the Chinese resulting in the near-extinction of rosewood. Furthermore, the study found that livelihoods of rural folks included farming, livestock rearing and charcoal sellers. Therefore, this has had an impact on the environment, which has ramifications for rural livelihoods because several rural people's survival is linked to their environment basically, poverty is worsening, resulting in environmental degradation. It is recommended that the Forestry Commission should collaborate with the traditional authorities to begin a replanting and sensitatization project to educate the rural residents about the value of rosewood.