Ghana

In the late 19th century the southern half of Ghana was covered by hardwood forest.
In 1995 only 39.7% of the country was forested and around 1.3% of forest is lost every year. Deforestation, overgrazing, and periodic drought have led to desertification. The rural population suffers with lower crops and livestock productivity. Desertification will ruin farmlands and livelihoods.
The reason Ghana has lost so much of its forest is because the country is the 3rd largest producer of cacao. Since they needed to produce so much large parts of the forest were cleared to grow cacao. The sales of cacao dropped at one point so the country started exporting timber to get revenue. These two factors are the main cause of desertification in Ghana. In 2007 49 out of 138 districts were in desert.
In order to fix the problem in 1994 Ghana banned the export of raw logs. Now 4.8% of the country's land is protected to save the forests. People are still illegally logging and that is severely effecting the remaining forests.

- www.ghanaweb.com/Ghanahomepage/geography/nature.php
- http://allafrica.com/stories/201001181277.html