Effects of woodfuel production on the environment and people in Adaklu Traditional Area, Ghana

Woodfuel serves as a major source of energy for cooking and micro industrial activities in Adaklu Traditional Area, Ghana. Increase in the demand for woodfuel coupled with the lack of alternative energy resources have contributed to an increase in cutting of trees to ensure adequate woodfuel supply. As a result of exploiting trees for woodfuel, ecological and health side effects of woodfuel production have emerged. To unearth these ecological and health effects, the following objectives were pursued: to determine the processes involved in woodfuel production; examine the extent to which anthropogenic activities of woodfuel production contribute to changes in the environment and analyse the effects of woodfuel production on the socio-economic life of people in the Adaklu Traditional Area. The method used to achieve the above objectives included the use of questionnaire surveys to collect primary data and the classification of remote sensing satellite images covering the study area in the years 1975, 1990 and 2000. The main ecological effect of woodfuel production on the environment in the Adaklu Traditional Area is deforestation as reflected in survey results and satellite image classifications. Other effects of woodfuel production are health problems and fairly longer distances covered in search of woodfuel.