[01] Addo Koranteng, The Research and Social Science Division, School of Graduate Studies Research and Innovation (SGSRI), Kumasi Polytechnic, Ghana. [02] Tomasz Zawila-Niedzwiecki, Directorate General of the State Forests, Warsaw, Poland.

The study describes typical evolution of forest cover in West Africa based on Ghana’s example. In this region, the population is highly dependent on forestry products which represent a vital part of the economy. The effect of population growth on natural resource utilization studies is very profound. This study assesses land use change in the Ashanti Region of Ghana within a 25 year period. The analysis of land use change uses a combination method in Remote Sensing (RS) to explain the effect of population growth on natural resource. The procedures used include: (i) a data pre-processing (geometric corrections, radiometric corrections, subset creation and image enhancement) of epoch Landsat images acquired in 1986, 2007, and Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) 2011; (ii) classification of multispectral imagery (iii) Change detection mapping. The results show a very grim picture of the extent of forest loss due to anthropogenic factors such as Agriculture and settlement. Population and Environment Relationships such as Linear views: Malthus and Boserup, Multiplicative perspectives and Development-dependency perspectives all being applicable in the area of study.

Population, Environment Relationships, Remote Sensing, GIS

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