This case study presents information on a critically endangered tree species with a narrow distribution in eastern Ghana.
The species is now restricted to small forest reserves and farmers’ land and, despite being given the highest status for conservation in Ghana, is seriously threatened with extinction from fire, harvesting for firewood and charcoal, and farming.
The study allows a focus on the vulnerability of small populations to human activities, demographic and environmental stochasticity and loss of genetic diversity by drift and inbreeding.
Students use the information to devise a conservation strategy for this threatened species taking into account both its patterns of genetic variation and the forestry and the socio-economic contexts of Ghana to decide on in situ, ex situ, or other conservation measures. Suits 1-3 groups of 4-5 students per group, with each group developing its own strategy.
