An analysis of deforestation under adjustment policies in Ghana
| dc.contributor.author | Yusif, Hadrat Mohamed | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2012-01-30T00:11:28Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2023-04-19T08:46:20Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2012-01-30T00:11:28Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2023-04-19T08:46:20Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2000 | |
| dc.description | A Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in Economics. | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | Deforestation is currently a major environmental issue in Ghana. The aim of this thesis was to investigate whether structural adjustment programmes (SAP) adopted by the government since 1983 accelerated the rate of forest depletion in the country. The hypothesis tested was; Ho: SAP has not significantly contributed to deforestation in Ghana. The study period (1973 - 1994) was split into two (1) 1973 - 1983, representing the period before SAP and (2) 1984 - 1994, representing the period after SAP. This split was to facilitate the comparison of the impact of the explanatory variables on forest cover (FC) before SAP and after SAP. A microeconomic model was used for the study. Five microeconomic variables were selected. These included the prices of agricultural crops (PA), land (PL), the price index of timber products (PG), the prices of charcoal (PF) and, petroleum products (PK). Historic data were collected on these variables and also on FC. Ordinary least square (OLS) method was applied to the data collected. The regression results were as follows. For the period before SAP (1973 - 1983) the R-Squared (R2) was about 0.98. The value of the F-statistics was 45.98 which exceeded the critical minimum of 5.05 at 5 percent error level. The t-statistics for X2, X3, X4 and X5 were all significant at 5 percent error level. However, the Durbin-Watson test was not significant. Again all the variables had the expected signs, thus suggesting they were consistent with theory. In the case of the period after-SAP (1984 - 1994), the R-squared (R2) was 0.98. The value of the F-statistics was 52.86, also exceeding the critical minimum. The t-statistics for some of the explanatory variables were not significant at 5 percent error level. However, the Durbin-Watson test of 2.46 was significant. Apart from the prices of agricultural crops (PA) and land (PL) all the explanatory variables had the a priori expected signs. In the case of the period after-SAP (1984 - 1994), the R-squared (R2) was 0.98. The value of the F-statistics was 52.86, also exceeding the critical minimum. The t-statistics for some of the explanatory variables were not significant at 5 percent error level. However, the Durbin-Watson test of 2.46 was significant. Apart from the prices of agricultural crops (PA) and land (PL) all the explanatory variables had the a priori expected signs. The deduction made on the basis of the regression results was that before SAP economic crises in Ghana might have had more significant impact on the rate of forest depletion than structural adjustment programme. Hence this thesis was unable to reject the null hypothesis that, SAP has no significantly contributed to deforestation in Ghana. The implications for policy making are that government of Ghana may pursue SAP. However, care should be taken to ensure that environmentally efficient programmes are selected and also effective and sustainable measures put in place to reduce the negative social effects and environmental damages. | en_US |
| dc.description.sponsorship | KNUST | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://ir.knust.edu.gh/handle/123456789/2489 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.relation.ispartofseries | 2879 | |
| dc.title | An analysis of deforestation under adjustment policies in Ghana | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
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