Project Outcomes

Short Term effects: The short term effects of finding alternative fuel and building materials for Ghana in place of wood would be very little because of how big the issue has gotten. The first way it would impact Ghana in the short term would be that they would have the ability to build better structures and sturdier homes. This is a short term effect because within 5 years most people in the affected area of Ghana would have better homes and buildings. Another short term effect would be the distribution of knowledge about solar panels, or tide turbines, and knowledge about building better buildings. Because of these new technologies and assets they will have better education and more be more knowledgeable. And finally the new structures we would build will supply new jobs to people in Ghana and will help their economy grow and be even more efficient.

Long Term effects: There are more long term effects for our project in Ghana than short term for one reason, our solution will take time to implement. The first long term change that would happen would be that ,over time (longer than 5 years), the CO2 emissions in Ghana would greatly decreased, because there will be more trees to produce oxygen. This is a long term effect because it takes time for trees to grow. The other long term effect would be an increase in forest density and will start to restore lost habitats for animals that live in the forests. This is a long term effect because ,again, it takes a long time for trees to grow. Also as our final long term effect, Ghana will begin to cut down on pollution by having more trees available to produce more oxygen, also Ghana will begin to regrow their massive amounts of lost forest.

Potential Negative effects: There are two possible negative effects on this project. One of the possible negative effects would be that there would have to have land made available to factories and solar panels. By making land for solar panels and new factories it would set back the progress on reducing deforestation a small bit because some forest would have to be cut down to make land for brick/ concrete factories, and for solar panels. The second possible negative effect is that with the increase in jobs and mining operations, more people would have to work. This means that there would be less people able to work either the new factories or to work the jobs that are important to the economy, like gold mining and cocoa harvesting. This is a negative effect because gold and cocoa are the other 2 biggest exports of Ghana.