Livelihood, Carbon and Spatiotemporal Land-Use Land-Cover Change in the Yenku Forest Reserve of Ghana, 2000–2020

Tropical forests are important sources of securing basic human needs (livelihoods) for both the deprived and well-endowed but are also critical for reducing metric tonnes of carbon (tC) emitted from deforestation and land degradation. However, inequalities of human population and land-use land-cover change (LULCC) are existential threats to sustainable tropical forest reserve management and their aboveground biomass carbon stock (AGBCS) in Africa. This study examines the extent of LULCC, AGBCS and perception of livelihood effects on the Yenku Forest Reserve (YFR) in the Central Region of Ghana. Google Earth Engine remotely sensed Landsat data analysis using supervised classification, change detection, mixed with qualitative data from individual in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with inhabitants were used. The overall classification accuracy was 89.1%, 90.8% and 89.8% for the LULC in 2000, 2010 and 2020 respectively. Farming, charcoal production, hunting and harvesting non-timber forest products were the main livelihood activities impacting LULCC and AGBCS in the reserve. Open degraded forest was estimated at 1627ha, 1764ha, 1784ha out of 2293ha, corresponding to 36,349.6tC, 39,395.70tC, 39,840.0tC respectively in 2000, 2010 and 2020. Dense degraded forest cover yielded the least carbon stock of 938.6tC compared to 39,840.0tC from less dense degraded forest cover. These findings would aid policy decisions toward achieving United Nations land degradation neutrality and sustainable development goals (SDGs) one, ten and fifteen while ensuring YFR sustainability. Deprived forest-fringe communities, traditional authorities and other relevant stakeholders need to actively adopt gendered livelihood objectives to achieve SDGs, carbon and land degradation neutralities within YFR.