ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the issue of Structural Adjustment Programs' impact on forests. It provides a preliminary insight into how Structural Adjustment Programs might have stimulated or discouraged sustainable management, deforestation and degradation of forests in Ghana. Many of the countries are using similar structural adjustment policies prescribed by international agencies and donors, to improve their trade balances, stimulate economic growth and reduce inflation. In the face of dwindling forest resources, the government is vigorously pursuing a plantation project with the aim of reducing pressure on the natural forest. Though the effects may not be direct at all times, the Structural Adjustment Programs seem to have been an important contributing factor to observed trends in forestry problems. Economic models tend to show that higher aggregate agricultural and forest product prices encourage deforestation and logging in unmanaged forests. The situation in Ghana is that Structural Adjustment Programs have succeeded in creating more forestry-related employment opportunities that might increase deforestation.
