Answer:
Over the past 30 years, an increase in the price and production of cocoa, gold, and oil helped transform Ghana: real GDP growth quadrupled, extreme poverty dropped by half, and in 2011, Ghana moved to a Lower Middle-Income Country status. The fundamental question is: How can this impressive development, anchored firmly on natural capital, continue to deliver gains in macroeconomic growth and poverty reduction?
The recent World Bank Ghana Country Environmental Analysis (CEA) responds by providing the scale, scope, and economic effects of environmental degradation on society. Air, plastics, and water pollution affect health and hygiene; gold mines, unmanaged solid waste, and contaminated sites release hazardous chemicals; land degradation, deforestation, and overfishing heavily impact livelihoods and limit drivers of growth.
According to the CEA, environmental degradation costs $6.3 billion annually or nearly 11% of Ghana’s 2017 GDP . Non-renewable resources such as gold and oil cannot sustain growth as resources deplete while renewable resources like cocoa, timber, and other tree and food crops, depend on good environmental stewardship. There are clear signs and scientific evidence that the erosion of the natural capital may put at risk growth, livelihoods, and human health.
