Destroying the forests

It was a thick smoke from a distance. And as we drew closer, we could feel the intense heat accompanied by a bellowing fire which was destroying the beautiful evergreen plantation along the Accra-Cape Coast Highway.

That was a reckless human activity undertaken by some farmers and herdsmen for their parochial interests, who were not mindful of the negative effects of their activity on the environment. But the worse story of the environmental degradation and absolute rape of the environment was yet to manifest. Along the stretch of the road at Gomoa Otsew, just a few metres from Apam Junction, were six men and women cutting the acacia trees planted along the road to sell as firewood.

When I first saw the zeal and dexterity with which the people were cutting the trees, I thought they were clearing the place for the expansion of the road or for an electrification project along that line. But that was not to be.

When I probed further, I gathered that the planting