Ghana Environment - 2024

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Environment - current issues

recurrent drought in north severely affects agricultural activities; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; poaching and habitat destruction threaten wildlife populations; water pollution; inadequate supplies of potable water

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: Marine Life Conservation

Climate

tropical; warm and comparatively dry along southeast coast; hot and humid in southwest; hot and dry in north

Land use

agricultural land: 69.1% (2018 est.)

arable land: 20.7% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 11.9% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 36.5% (2018 est.)

forest: 21.2% (2018 est.)

other: 9.7% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 59.2% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 3.06% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

3.51% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 46.04 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 16.67 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 22.75 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 3,538,275 tons (2005 est.)

Major rivers (by length in km)

Volta river mouth (shared with Burkina Faso [s]) - 1,600 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Atlantic Ocean drainage: Volta (410,991 sq km)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 300 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 100 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 1.07 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

56.2 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Ghana on this page is re-published from the 2024 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Ghana 2024 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Ghana 2024 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.