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Although protected areas in Africa contain possibly the highest repositories of carbon and thus can play a role in mitigating the effects of climate change through carbon sequestration, they are threatened due to increasing levels of deforestation and forest degradation (DFD). However, little information is available on the on-site causes of DFD in these areas. This paper estimates the levels of DFD and identifies the drivers in the Ankasa Conservation Area (ACA) in Ghana as a case study. A survey was used to identify both direct and underlying factors that promote the DFD. The extent of deforestation was estimated using satellite images. The survey data were analyzed using rankings and ordinal logistic regression techniques, while digital image classification and change detection were used to analyze land cover changes. The results show that DFD occurred at a higher rate in the periphery of the ACA compared to the core-protected and the farthest areas. Agricultural and wood harvesting activities were the main direct causes of DFD. Poverty and large in-migrations of people for cocoa farming were important underlying economic and population growth factors. To address these problems and enable ACA to contribute more to biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation, the community resource management institutions should be fully adopted and strengthened and priority given to livelihood improvement and ecosystem services provision in the periphery of the ACA.
