**2. The study context and methodology**

#### **2.1 Study context**

Ghana is located in West Africa and lies between Latitudes 4°44′ N and 11°15′ N and longitudes 3°14′ W and 1°12′ E with an estimated area of 23.85 million ha. It is bordered to the North by Burkina Faso, to the West by Cote d'Ivoire and Burikina Faso, to the East by Togo and to the South by the Gulf of Guinea [25, 36]. The country is endowed with diverse ecosystems with a diversity of plant and animal species. There are 21 protected areas which constitute 5.6% of the country's total surface area that is being managed by the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission [37]. The nation's forest resources are under the pressures of mining, agricultural encroachment, legal and illegal logging, woodfuel harvesting, wildfires, and infrastructure development [38]. The deforestation and forest degradation rate as of 2017 was estimated at 3.51% annually. Protected areas are located in all the ecological zones of the country but three of these national parks were selected for the study because of their unique ecological, environmental and socio-economic characteristics. These parks are the Digya, Kakum and Mole National Parks (**Figure 1**).

#### **2.2 Methods**

Remote sensing and geographic information techniques were used to assess the gain and loss in the forest cover between 1986 and 2020. These timelines were chosen based on availability and quality of images. Besides, the parks are protected areas and long-term changes are critical for sustainable management decisions. The forest reserves in the country have come under pressure to support the needs of both individuals and the nation as a whole. The same forest reserves are expected to provide ecological and climate change issues. The dynamics of the forests in terms of gain and loss are critical in informing how the current forest reserves are managed for the benefit of the people and nature. Three national parks were selected with one in the northern Savannah area (Mole National Park), one in the forest area (Digya National Park) and one in the coastal area (Kakum National Park) for the assessment of the forest dynamics in Ghana. Landsat images were obtained from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) website and used for the classification. Details of the images are described in **Table 1**. The images were classified in Erdas Imagine, and maps were processed in ArcMap. The quality of the classified images was assessed by comparing random points on the classified images with the same points on high-resolution images from Google Earth [30, 39].

**Figure 1.** *The selected national parks in the national context. Source: Open-source Map, 2022.*
