Oryem Denish, a member of the co-op, explains: “The clan leader here has made a local law to protect the shea nut tree. Because nowadays, it’s the shea nut that is the key … When they catch ...

while the other tree species have about 194.4 total carbon per tree. Shea nuts tosting process near Chiana, Kassena Nankana District, Ghana. Image by Axel Fassio/CIFOR via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Women in Ghana have been turning shea nuts into butter for centuries ... But for the past four decades, men have been cutting down the very tree that provides livelihood to many families.