An Economic Assessment of the Deforestation of Ghana’s Garden City of West Africa

Ghana’s urban population is projected to grow from the current 52% of the total population to about 65% by 2030. Such a growth rate certainly has far reaching implications for natural environments within urban centers, particularly in the face of current economic pressures. Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city was for a long time known as the Garden city of West Africa. This status seems however to have been traded in favor of policy for urban development. In the particular case of the Kumasi forest reserve this chapter assesses the total economic use value of the forest and the factors, which influence such value through a Hedonic Price Model. The total economic use value is then compared with the user cost of the forest, to draw some useful lessons for urban forestry from economic analysis. The comparison reveals that Ghana loses a net minimum of US$ 35 million per annum in carbon credits due to the deforestation of the Kumasi Forest Reserve. The chapter therefore concludes that developing economies should adopt urban forestry as a source of funding and resources for economic development and poverty alleviation.