The 537 kilometers (334 mi) coastline is mostly a low, sandy shore backed by plains and scrub and intersected by several rivers and streams, most of which are navigable only by canoe.

North of this belt, the elevation varies from 91 to 396 meters (299 to 1,299 ft) above sea level and is covered by low bushes, park-like savanna, and grassy plains.

[1] The highest elevation in Ghana, Mount Afadja in the Akwapim-Togo Ranges, rises 880 metres (2,890 ft) above sea level.

[1] Because strong surf pounds the shoreline, two artificial harbours were built at Takoradi and Tema (the latter completed in 1961) to accommodate Ghana's shipping needs.

[1] A narrow strip of grassy and scrubby coast runs from a point near Takoradi in the west to the Togo border in the east.

[1] Shifting cultivation is the usual agricultural practice because of the swampy nature of the very lowlying areas during the rainy seasons and the periodic blocking of the rivers at the coast by sandbars that form lagoons.

Winneba has a small livestock industry and palm tree cultivation is expanding in the area away from the coast, with the predominant occupation of the coastal inhabitants being fishing via dug-out canoe.

[1] The Volta Delta, which forms a distinct subregion of the low plains, extends into the Gulf of Guinea in the extreme southeast.

[1] As the delta grew outward over the centuries, sandbars developed across the mouths of the Volta and smaller rivers that empty into the gulf in the same area, forming numerous lagoons, some quite large, making road construction difficult.

[1] The Densu River Basin, location of the important urban centres of Koforidua and Nsawam in the eastern lowlands, has an undulating topography.

[1] The Tarkwa goldfield, the diamond operations of the Bonsa Valley, and high-grade manganese deposits are all found in this area.

[1] Stretching in a northwest-to-southeast direction, the Kwahu Plateau extends 193 kilometres (120 mi) between Koforidua in the east and Wenchi in the northwest.

[1] The region is Ghana's chief producer of cocoa, and its tropical forests continue to be a vital source of timber for the lumber industry.

[1] Taking the central part of Ghana, the Volta Basin covers about 45 percent of the nation's total land surface.

[1] Its northern section, which lies above the upper part of Lake Volta, rises to a height of 150 to 215 metres (492 to 705 ft) above sea level.

[1] The most widespread vegetation type is savanna, the woodlands of which, depending on local soil and climatic conditions, may contain such trees as red ironwood and shea.

[1] The general terrain in the northern and northwestern part of Ghana outside the Volta Basin consists of a dissected plateau, which averages between 150 and 300 metres (490 and 980 ft) in elevation and, in some places, is even higher.

[1] Since the mid-1980s, when former United States President Jimmy Carter's Global 2000 program adopted Ghana as one of a select number of African countries whose local farmers were to be educated and financially supported to improve agricultural production, there has been a dramatic increase in grain production in northern Ghana.

[1] The virtual absence of tsetse flies in the region has led to increased livestock raising as a major occupation in the north.

[1] The major drainage divide runs from the southwest part of the Akwapim-Togo Ranges northwest through the Kwahu Plateau and then irregularly westward to the Ivory Coast border.

[1] Construction of the dam at Akosombo, about 80 kilometres (50 mi) upstream from the coast, created the vast Lake Volta and the associated hydroelectric project.

[1] A 24-metre (79 ft) pontoon was commissioned in 1989 to link the Afram Plains to the west of the lake with the lower Volta region to the east.

[1] On the other side of the Kwahu Plateau from Lake Volta are several river systems, including the Pra, Ankobra, Tano and Densu.

[1] Rising south of the Kwahu Plateau and flowing southward, the Pra enters the Gulf of Guinea east of Takoradi.

[3] During summer in the northern hemisphere, a warm and moist maritime air mass intensifies and pushes northward across the country.

[3] A low-pressure belt, or intertropical front, in the airmass brings warm air, rain, and prevailing winds from the southwest.

[3] As the sun returns south across the equator, the dry, dusty, tropical continental front, or harmattan, prevails.

[3] From Takoradi eastward to the Accra Plains, including the lower Volta region, rainfall averages only 750 to 1,000 millimetres (30 to 39 in) a year.

[4] Environmental issues include recurrent drought in the north, severely affecting agricultural activities, deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion, poaching and habitat destruction threatens wildlife populations, water pollution, and inadequate supplies of potable water International agreements (ratified): Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands.

The lake generates electricity, provides inland transportation, and is a potentially valuable resource for irrigation and fish farming.