Agricultural expansion and mining drive forest loss in Ghana despite declining deforestation rates: Evidence from a national-scale assessment
- 1Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, College of Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
Abstract
Reliable estimates of deforestation are essential for understanding the dynamics of forest change in order to guide conservation and land management policies. However, considerable variation exists among published estimates of forest loss in Ghana, creating uncertainty regarding the magnitude and drivers of deforestation. Furthermore, deforestation rates have largely been estimated for individual forest reserves or selected landscapes rather than for the entire country. To address this gap, the present study provided a nationally explicit assessment of deforestation rates and forest conversion pathways across Ghana between 2015 and 2025 using multi-temporal Sentinel-2 imagery and post-classification change detection techniques. Land use land cover maps were generated for 2015, 2020, and 2025 and used to quantify land cover transitions, estimate deforestation rates, and identify the dominant pathways through which forests were converted to other land uses. Our findings showed that the landscape was largely characterised by stable non-forest (73.82%) and stable forest (22.36%) cover over the study period. Nevertheless, Ghana lost approximately 279,227 ha of forest between 2015 and 2025, corresponding to a cumulative deforestation rate of 4.95% and an average annual deforestation rate of 0.40% yr − 1. Forest loss increased from 130,878 ha during 2015–2020 to 149,984 ha during 2020–2025, indicating an acceleration in deforestation. Spatial analyses showed that stable forests were concentrated mainly within the southwestern high forest zone, whereas forest degradation was more widespread across the transition and savanna landscapes. Examination of forest conversion pathways revealed that agricultural expansion and mining were the predominant drivers of deforestation, accounting for 80.4% and 11% of total forest loss, respectively. Over the decade, mined area exhibited the greatest proportional increase (533.9%). The findings indicated that agricultural expansion remains the principal cause of forest loss in Ghana, although the rapid growth of mining activities constitutes an emerging threat to the country’s forest ecosystems. Continued forest loss is likely to undermine carbon sequestration capacity and compromise the contribution of Ghana’s forests to climate-change mitigation. By providing updated and spatially explicit estimates of forest change, this study fills a critical knowledge gap in national-scale deforestation assessment in Ghana. It also provides information relevant to national forest monitoring, land-use planning, and the development of strategies aimed at reducing deforestation and promoting sustainable landscape management.
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BibTeX
@article{addofordjour2026agricultural,
title = {{Agricultural expansion and mining drive forest loss in Ghana despite declining deforestation rates: Evidence from a national-scale assessment}},
author = {Patrick Addo-Fordjour and Francis Emmanuel Awortwi and Caleb Ezekiel Obodai and Francis Boakye Aboagye and Christine Naa Lamiley France and Nana Serwaa Boakye Kusi-Appiah and Derrick Oppong},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0357446},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0357446},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Agricultural expansion and mining drive forest loss in Ghana despite declining deforestation rates: Evidence from a national-scale assessment
AU - Patrick Addo-Fordjour
AU - Francis Emmanuel Awortwi
AU - Caleb Ezekiel Obodai
AU - Francis Boakye Aboagye
AU - Christine Naa Lamiley France
AU - Nana Serwaa Boakye Kusi-Appiah
AU - Derrick Oppong
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/03
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0357446
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0357446
AB - Reliable estimates of deforestation are essential for understanding the dynamics of forest change in order to guide conservation and land management policies. However, considerable variation exists among published estimates of forest loss in Ghana, creating uncertainty regarding the magnitude and drivers of deforestation. Furthermore, deforestation rates have largely been estimated for individual forest reserves or selected landscapes rather than for the entire country. To address this gap, the present study provided a nationally explicit assessment of deforestation rates and forest conversion pathways across Ghana between 2015 and 2025 using multi-temporal Sentinel-2 imagery and post-classification change detection techniques. Land use land cover maps were generated for 2015, 2020, and 2025 and used to quantify land cover transitions, estimate deforestation rates, and identify the dominant pathways through which forests were converted to other land uses. Our findings showed that the landscape was largely characterised by stable non-forest (73.82%) and stable forest (22.36%) cover over the study period. Nevertheless, Ghana lost approximately 279,227 ha of forest between 2015 and 2025, corresponding to a cumulative deforestation rate of 4.95% and an average annual deforestation rate of 0.40% yr − 1. Forest loss increased from 130,878 ha during 2015–2020 to 149,984 ha during 2020–2025, indicating an acceleration in deforestation. Spatial analyses showed that stable forests were concentrated mainly within the southwestern high forest zone, whereas forest degradation was more widespread across the transition and savanna landscapes. Examination of forest conversion pathways revealed that agricultural expansion and mining were the predominant drivers of deforestation, accounting for 80.4% and 11% of total forest loss, respectively. Over the decade, mined area exhibited the greatest proportional increase (533.9%). The findings indicated that agricultural expansion remains the principal cause of forest loss in Ghana, although the rapid growth of mining activities constitutes an emerging threat to the country’s forest ecosystems. Continued forest loss is likely to undermine carbon sequestration capacity and compromise the contribution of Ghana’s forests to climate-change mitigation. By providing updated and spatially explicit estimates of forest change, this study fills a critical knowledge gap in national-scale deforestation assessment in Ghana. It also provides information relevant to national forest monitoring, land-use planning, and the development of strategies aimed at reducing deforestation and promoting sustainable landscape management.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -