{"id":3742,"date":"2019-06-19T14:32:12","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T14:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/?p=3742"},"modified":"2019-06-19T14:32:12","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T14:32:12","slug":"ghana-is-losing-its-rainforest-faster-than-any-other-country-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aptnewsghana.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/19\/ghana-is-losing-its-rainforest-faster-than-any-other-country-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghana is losing its rainforest faster than any other country in the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ghana\u2019s rainforest is being lost at an alarming rate,\u00a0according to a new report<\/a>\u00a0about the state of forests worldwide.<\/p>\n

Global Forest Watch (GFW) used updated remote sensing and satellite data from the University of Maryland and estimates that there was a 60% increase in Ghana\u2019s primary rainforest loss in 2018 compared to 2017, the highest in the world. The second highest was neighboring C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire with a 28% increase. Together, these two countries produce nearly 60% of the world\u2019s cocoa.<\/p>\n

However, the Democratic Republic of Congo lost the largest size of tropical primary rainforest in Africa and collectively, the world lost 3.6 million hectares of primary rainforest last year\u2014an area the size of Belgium in 2018 alone.<\/p>\n

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The researchers said in 2002, just Brazil and Indonesia accounted for 71% of the tropical primary forest loss. Though those two countries accounted for 46% of total loss in 2018, loss rates in Africa in particular saw a significant increase.<\/p>\n

Besides providing habitat for animals including mountain gorillas, trees in rainforests can be \u201chundreds or even thousands of years old. They store more carbon than other forests and are irreplaceable when it comes to sustaining biodiversity,\u201d\u00a0says the World Resources Institute<\/a>\u00a0which leads the GFW project.<\/p>\n