China will be paying for, and building, a new 400 MW hydroelectric dam at Bui in Ghana, north of Accra. This dam was first mooted in 1920, but now the deal is sweet: Ghana will supply China with cocoa as part of the agreement.
The Chinese get a third of their crude oil imports from Africa, but are keen to get energy any way they can, and have been signing deals left, right and centre with African states and companies. The bad news about the Ghana deal is that cocoa plantations are partly responsible for massive deforestation: originally forests covered 36 percent of Ghana's territory but by 2000 this had shrunk to just 10 percent.
Forest clearing in Ghana is also a result of urban sprawl, export of timber, and use of wood for domestic fuel. Despite planting 10,000 hectares of managed forest a year, logging is taking place at an estimated 5 times the level it should be for sustainability.
Blimey! This I didn't know.
Will try to remember to post something on this over at The Coffee House.
Posted by: Matt | 09 September 2007 at 01:57 PM