INSTITUTE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT STUDIES

(TAMALE CAMPUS)

PROGRAMME: MSC ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE POLICY AND

MANAGEMENT

DEPARTMENT: URBAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

COURSE: BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION

COURSE CODE: ESPM 501

NAME: ALHASSAN ABDUL-BAQI

STUDENT ID NUMBER: 20140353

QUESTION

Discuss the cause of biodiversity loss with particular reference to Ghana.

ANSWER

BIODIVERSITY

The 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro defined biodiversity as “the variability

among living organisms from all sources among other things, terrestrial, marine and other

aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity

within species, between species and of ecosystems. It is also explained as the variety of life; the

different plants, animals and micro-organisms, their genes and the ecosystem of which they are a

part.

Biodiversity in Ghana has within the three main bio-geographic zones. So far about 2,974

indigenous plant species, 204 fishes, 728 birds, 225 mammals, 221 species of amphibians and

reptiles have been recorded. The species of frogs, 1 lizard and 23 species of butterflies have been

reported to be endemic. Animals found in Ghana been grouped as follows: mammals and

primate, reptiles and amphibians, aquatic and marine, wetland birds, forest zone birds, savanna

zone birds, insects and spiders.

Maintaining Ghana’s biodiversity is important for many reasons, not least of which are the many

direct benefits to humankind. Biodiversity tends to be closely tied in the popular imagination

with philosophical or purely environmentalist ethics, but there are a number of very practical

reasons to support biodiversity conservation. The benefits of biodiversity are:

a. It also helps in purifying water, the recycling of nutrients in soil, and the pollination of

flowers, among many other things.

b. Enabling the agricultural and forest industry through processes such as pollination, pest

control, nutrient provision, genetic diversity, and disease prevention and control

c. Enabling nature-based tourism and the hunting and fishing industry

d. Natural degradation of chemicals released into the environment, a significant cost savings

over physical, chemical and thermal bioremediation.

e. Reduced healthcare costs through the prevention of the spread of disease.

f. Sustaining the natural ecosystems on which humans and its systems depend.

Despite the numerous benefits and advantages gotten from biodiversity, there is growing concern

about the health consequences of biodiversity loss and change in Ghana. It has affected

ecosystem functioning and significant disruptions of ecosystems. Biodiversity loss also means

that we are losing, before discovery, many of nature's chemicals and genes, of the kind that have

already provided humankind with enormous health benefits.

CAUSES OF BIODIVERSITY LOSS IN GHANA

Ghana has rich and diverse natural resources. These resources are exploited to meet the growing

demands of the populace. The uncontrolled manner of utilization of these natural resources has

resulted in reversible and irreversible changes within the environment. Ghana’s rich biodiversity

is gradually being depleted due to a variety of factors. Prominent among them are human

population growth, pollution, habitat destruction, agriculture and global warming etc.

Biodiversity continues to decrease at unprecedented rates as human development and expansion

result in the fragmentation and loss of habitat for flora and fauna. The loss of biodiversity is

expected in most scenario studies to continue at an increasing pace in the coming decades. The

causes of biodiversity loss are discussed below:

a. Human population growth

The geometric increase in human population is the fundamental cause for the loss of

biodiversity loss in Ghana. It has led to a constant search for more arable land for food

production, livestock grazing, wood for fuel, construction, and energy. Formerly untouched

and undisturbed areas in Ghana are being converted into agricultural or pasture land, stripped

of wood, mined for resources to support the energy needs of an ever-growing population.

People have now settled in areas of high biodiversity, which have relatively rich soils and

other attractions for human activities and this has led to biodiversity loss.

With a population of 18 million in the year 2000 and ten years down the line, the population

is 24 million; the question is can Ghana sustain its ecological aspects of biological systems

under the pressure of an ever-increasing population. Can birds continue to migrate, can larger

organisms have space (habitat) to feed, can ecosystems survive in anything like their present

form, or are they doomed to impoverishment and degradation?

b. Habitat destruction

In Ghana, habitat destruction is the single most important cause of the loss of rainforest

biodiversity and is directly related to human population growth. Rainforest lands are

converted to ranches, agricultural land, urban areas and other human usages; habitat is lost for

forest organisms. Many species population have reduced drastically and local, endemic

species with specialized habitats are much more vulnerable to extinction or are extinct, since

their habitat is degraded or converted for human activity. Most of the habitats destroyed are

those which contain the highest levels of biodiversity. In this case, habitat loss is caused by

clearing, selective logging, and burning.

When humans convert wild areas for agriculture, forestry, urban development, or water

projects (including dams, hydropower, and irrigation), they reduce or eliminate its usefulness

as a habitat for the other species that live there.

Generalist species can adapt to many different types of living conditions, but more specialized

organisms may not be able to adjust when their habitat is changed or disappears as a result of

land development. All forms of development alter natural ecosystems in Ghana. Dams change

river flow patterns, dissolved oxygen levels, and water temperatures and may prevent fish

from swimming upstream to spawn. Farmers clear land, withdraw large quantities of water

from local sources, and introduce pesticides and chemical fertilizers to the environment.

Urban development clears land and paves it, which changes local water cycles by increasing

surface runoff and reducing groundwater supplies.

c. Pollution

Over the years, industrial, agricultural and waste-based pollutants have had catastrophic

effects on many species in Ghana. Those species which are more tolerant to pollution will

survive; those requiring pristine environments (water, air, food) will not. Thus, pollution can

act as a selective agent. Water in most lakes and rivers has degraded waters as a result of

pollution, so that many freshwater ecosystems have died and others are dying. Since about

12% of animal species live in these ecosystems, and most others depend on them to some

degree, this is a very serious matter. In Ghana approximately 95% of wastewater is

discharged, untreated, directly into waterways.

Most water pollution in Ghana is as the result of the introduction of various substances into

water bodies that have negative effects on ecosystems, health and water-based activities

(swimming, diving, fishing, etc.). Water pollution has, among other consequences, the

tendency to cause long-term modifications of biodiversity. Eutrophication is one of the most

noticeable long-term alterations. This phenomenon occurs within aquatic environments that

are fed only little new water: lakes, ponds, slow rivers, river mouths.

Air pollution also affects biodiversity on a great scale in Ghana. The atmosphere, lithosphere,

and hydrosphere are all negatively affected by pollution. Air pollution affects lower life forms

more than higher life forms. Plants are generally more affected than animals on land, but not

in fresh water. A decline in most species due to pollution is evident except for minorities that

increase. Plants constantly take up atmospheric gases every day to sustain their biological

processes. The vehicles are the most important source of atmospheric pollutants as they

release carbon monoxide. This is followed by industrials sources which release sulphur oxides

and electric power plants, space heating and lastly refuse burning.

d. Agriculture

The dramatic increase in the number of humans (people) in Ghana has instigated a

simultaneous growth in agriculture, and has led to conversion of wild lands to croplands,

massive diversions of water from lakes and rivers and, at the same time, have polluted water

and land resources with pesticides, fertilizers, and animal wastes. This has resulted in the

destruction, disturbance or disabling of terrestrial ecosystems, and pollution, oxygen-depletion

and atrophied water resources and has eventually caused significant changes in social

organization.

It has also resulted in habitat destruction; one of the greatest threats to the Ghana’s remaining

biodiversity especially in tropical regions. Intensification of farming practices, leading to the

degradation of agricultural and semi-natural habitats, is also causing declines in biodiversity

across huge areas. Growing human populations, increasing demand for animal protein, and

policies promoting biofuel production are the underlying causes for these trends.

Intensification of farming in Ghana has resulted in a decline in the ability of farmland to

support a range of birds and other wildlife. Vast and highly managed monoculture landscapes

have replaced diverse crop mosaics and valuable areas of semi-natural habitat have been lost

from the farm landscape, including strips of meadow, hedgerows, groves, small wetlands and

tree stands along wetlands. In Ghana, most identified Important Bird Areas are threatened by

agricultural intensification, which is also implicated in the declines in a large number of

common farmland birds.

In Ghana now, more land is being diverted from local food production to “cash crops” for

export and exchange; fewer types of crops are raised, and each crop is raised in much greater

quantities than before. Thus, ever more land is converted from forest (and other natural

systems) for agriculture for export, rather than using land for subsistence crops. The

introduction of mono cropping and the use of relatively few plants for food and other uses at

the expense of the wide variety of plants and animals utilized by earlier peoples and

indigenous peoples of Ghana are responsible for loss of diversity and genetic variability.

Native plants and animals which are adapted to local conditions are now being replaced with

“foreign” (or “exotic”) species which require special inputs of food and nutrients, large

quantities of water. Such exotic species frequently drive out native species.

e. Deforestation

Despite policy efforts on reducing deforestation, thousands of hectares of forests continue to

be lost annually. Ghana experiences worrisomely high deforestation rates which definitely

affect local biodiversity levels. Ghana’s tropical forests host half of all biodiversity, and their

preservation is essential for maintaining the richness of life on Earth.

Deforestation has a wide range of appearances ranging from selective logging to complete

clear-cutting of forest. Deforestation, technically defined as “the reduction of tree canopy to

less than 10% crown cover” (FAO), is closely related to the conversion of forestlands to

alternative uses, often devoid of or with negligible presence of trees in the converted land.

Deforestation is thus a direct cause of biodiversity loss due to the associated loss of natural

habitat. Next to the fact that deforestation leads to biodiversity loss, it also can play a role in

both global warming and cooling and it leads to reductions in water regulation, and the

destruction of the resource base and livelihoods for many people in Ghana. Deforestation is

caused by multiple drivers and pressures, including conversion for agricultural uses,

infrastructure development, wood extraction, agricultural product prices, and a complex set of

additional institutional and place-specific factors.

Next to the fact that deforestation is a direct cause of biodiversity loss, the various

consequences of deforestation also trigger other factors impacting on biodiversity. One only

has to think of climate change as an example. Tropical deforestation is considered the second

largest source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and is expected to remain a major

emission source for the foreseeable future.

f. Overexploitation

Overexploitation means harvesting species from the wild at rates faster than natural

populations can recover. Overfishing and overhunting are both types of overexploitation.

Currently, Ghana’s endangered vertebrates are threatened by overexploitation. Birds have

been victims of overhunting. Overhunting still poses a big threat to animals in Ghana.

Most of the land animals we eat are farm-raised, not hunted in the wild. Fish, on the other

hand, are often still fished from the wild. Humans have to eat, but we have been taking fish

for food faster than they can replenish their wild populations. It is estimated that about 50% of

commercial fisheries are overfished to some extent. Overfishing happens mostly because

humans have gotten really good at fishing. We have boats and mechanized fishing lines. The

fishing techniques called bottom trawling and dredging involve dragging huge heavy nets

across the ocean floor, picking up everything along the way. This includes plants and animals

that are not the target fish. These unwanted things usually get tossed out. These fishing

methods are super destructive of habitats on the bottom of the ocean, especially slow-growing

corals, in both warm and cold water. The overexploitation of fisheries is an example of a

tragedy of the commons—people take more and more of a common resource until it is no

longer available.

CONCLUSION

Despite the numerous benefits and advantages gotten from biodiversity, there is growing concern

about the health consequences of biodiversity loss and change in Ghana. Biodiversity loss also

means that we are losing, before discovery, many of nature's chemicals and genes, of the kind

that have already provided humankind with enormous health benefits.

From the points above, it is noted that, human population growth, pollution, habitat destruction,

agriculture and global warming have led to the loss of Ghana’s biodiversity. It has led to:

a. Significant changes in ecosystem functioning thus making them unstable

b. Low survival rate of species

c. Reduction in species population

d. Extinction of some species

e. Low genetic diversity of species

We should also not underestimate the importance of the simple aesthetics of conserving

biodiversity. A biologically diverse environment is usually very beautiful, and endlessly

fascinating. Preserving Ghana’s natural environment and all the wonderful variety of species

within it will benefit our economy because visitors who enjoy the unspoiled nature of Ghana, the

wildlife, will keep coming back - but isn’t it even more important to preserve it for our own

benefit and for our children’s enjoyment?

Thus, should nothing be done about the trend of events, a looming future without biodiversity are

imminent, even though I am not a Prophet of Doom? A way out is to involve all stakeholders

that is Departments, Chiefs and Elders, Community Members and the Government of Ghana.

RECOMMENDATION

As stated by Tilman (2000), “The Earth will retain its most striking feature, its biodiversity only

if humans have the prescience to do so. This will occur, it seems, only if we realize the extent to

which we use biodiversity”. On the basis of these losses, the following recommendations are

made for consideration in an effort at protecting, preserving and conserving Ghana’s biodiversity

for current and future generations.

a. Increase the co-ordination of the work of all Government Departments and Agencies on

biodiversity to ensure integration and commonality purpose

b. Promote research that will lead to improving the biodiversity value

c. Protect, enhance and extend remaining forest and wildlife and provide incentive for their

management

d. Assess all new or revised policies and programmes for their impact on biodiversity and

apply the precautionary principle

e. Develop ecosystem approaches to environmental management and encourage

environmentally sustainable farming

f. Develop agri-environment programmes and mechanisms which promotes practices that

encourages minimum use of fertilizers and chemicals and reduce pollution

g. Develop a strategic approach to the implementation of forest and wildlife policies

h. Evaluation system must be made transparent and must be based on outcome not

administrative procedures. Every district should openly publish the development of law

breakings in biodiversity.

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