Woodland access arrangement for charcoal production and its influence on woodland degradation in Kintampo Municipality, Ghana

Abstract

Access to woodland plays a critical role in woodland degradation, yet policy efforts at addressing woodland degradation have focused on access to woodland for farming and lumbering to the detriment of access to woodland for charcoal production. Access arrangement to woodland for charcoal production is subsumed under access to woodland for farming, complicating the efforts at understanding the nexus between charcoal production and woodland degradation. This study assessed access arrangement to woodland for charcoal production and how it influences the state of the woodland in the Kintampo Municipality, a sub-political administrative area of Ghana. The views of 103 randomly selected charcoal producers from Asantekwa and Kunsu communities in the Municipality were assessed in relation to woodland access arrangement for charcoal production. Binary logistic regression was used to identify factors of charcoal production that influence woodland degradation. The results showed that procedures of access to woodland (P = 0.003), attitude of producers toward the woodland access arrangement (P = 0.023) have significant negative influence on woodland degradation. Producers perceived the procedure of access as unfair and are unwilling to follow it. Perceived unfairness in the procedure of access and unwillingness to follow it are pointers of circumventing the procedure of access to woodland, which is a recipe for conflict and woodland degradation. Woodland owners, chiefs and charcoal producers must make concerted efforts to revise the current access arrangement to woodland so that they become fair and acceptable to all parties in order to ensure sustainable woodland use.