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.
