As people struggle to improve their well-being it is the environment which both provides materials whilst at the same time constraining the effort. This interconnection between human aspiration and ecological integrity is a rather complex one incorporating links between population numbers and per capita resource demand, pattern of culture, organisation, technology and the physical environment. Each ecological complex of concern is located within a wider politico-economic environment. The paper argues that popular perceptions concerning the links between population growth and ecological degradation in Northern Ghana can be misleading if examined outside this complex nexus. It is argued that ecological degradation processes in Northern Ghana are as socially, economically and politically determined as they are physical and not resulting from mere growth in population even if population is an important factor given the underlying institutional failures which do not allow for adaptive responses by encouraging a shift to more intensive systems. Since the current unfolding ecological crisis in Northern Ghana is essentially human-induced, It can equally be solved through human action at the local, district,, regional, national end global levels of intervention, co-operation and support.
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