illegal logging

Strengthening the capabilities of Forest Fringe Communities in Southern Ghana to halt Illegal Logging

sbritwum — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 23:18:50 +0000

Strengthening the capabilities of Forest Fringe Communities in Southern Ghana to halt Illegal Logging

A study of the legal framework for forest reserves in Ghana indicates that most of the reserves are owned by corporate customary stools or clans. Customary law provides no restriction on destruction or use of trees, and national legislation seeks only to prohibit the destruction or sale of commercial timber trees. An analysis of the procedures related to forest reserves showed that the laws governing them have stifled the local land-tenure systems and given local communities a disincentive to protect reserves. These procedures fail to properly take into account community rights and benefits for villages near the reserves and have alienated local communities. With few or no rights in the reserves, nearby farmers and communities have had no incentives to protect, manage, or invest in the resource. Outside the reserves, the lack of tree tenure and payments to
farmers, together with inadequate compensation by concessionaires for damage to farms, have created not only a disincentive to plant or protect timber trees but also a strong motivation to destroy them before concessionaires can harvest them. Thus many landowners and farmers would rather negotiate secretly with chain-saw operators to have the trees on their land illegally harvested than allow the legitimate concessionaires to harvest the trees and pay token compensation.

To tackle illegal logging, Ghana signed and ratified FLEGT/VPA Agreement in 2009 but a report by Chatham House in July 2010 mentioned that ‘Ghana did not appear to see any improvement in halting illegal logging over the last decade’. Illegal logging remains rampant in Ghana, estimated at two-thirds of its total production, most of which comes from artisanal logging. Illegal logging has not halted or even reduced because the local groups who in most instances initiate the logging are not involved in efforts to halt illegal logging. Another key problem is the lack of capacity on forest issues related to logging. Additionally, no efforts have been made to determine the motivational needs of local groups for monitoring and reporting of illegal logging. The causes of this are (1) lack of sensitization and training on logging issues such as forest policy, laws and agreements (2) lack of capacity in monitoring and reporting (3) lack of determination of motivational needs for monitoring and reporting which are the core issues that the project seeks to address

sbritwum Sat, 11/24/2012 - 17:18

Responsible party

Forestry Research Institute of Ghana

Funding bodies

ACP/EU/FAO

Forests and Forest-based Products for a Greener Future Southern Ghana / illegal logging

Assessing the current situation of Ghana’s forest products industry

sbritwum — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:27:49 +0000

Assessing the current situation of Ghana’s forest products industry

Description

The forest products sector in Ghana is a major contributor to the country’s employment and economic growth. 0onetheless, the industry is increasingly being constrained by acute raw material shortages due to excessive harvest of timber, illegal logging and other anthropogenic activities. The extent to which the industry is impacted by raw material decline is uncertain. To determine appropriate future steps to help curb the overexploitation of timber, we have investigated the current situation by determining the log felling volumes of the leading exporters of wood products, the scope of the industry and the impacts of raw material decline. We have also determined the benefits that companies offer to neighboring communities. Data was gathered from a survey of the managing directors of the companies. Key indicators of natural resources scarcity were used to determine some of the variables that were studied. The results show that, more than just providing jobs and income locally, the industry also undertakes
rural development projects. However, the total volume of logs that the industry consumes far surpasses the annual allowable cut. The impact of raw material decline is reflected in the rise in the adoption of lesser-used species, increasing raw material costs, and declining raw material quality. It is suggested that the government support the Timber Validation Department to help curb illegal logging. Continued research to develop a policy and change management framework for the adoption of alternative fast growing fiber materials to supplement natural timber is also proposed.

sbritwum Thu, 11/08/2012 - 04:27

Responsible party

Forestry Research Institute of Ghana

Attachment	Size
forest_products_industry.pdf	259.72 KB

Forests and People Ghana’s forest products industry / current situation / illegal logging / impacts of raw material decline / adoption of lesser-used species and alternative fiber materials

Socio-economic contribution of illegal chainsaw milling to the Ghanaian rural economy

sbritwum — Mon, 30 May 2011 18:05:34 +0000

Socio-economic contribution of illegal chainsaw milling to the Ghanaian rural economy

Description

The search for viable alternatives to illegal chainsaw milling in Ghana requires an understanding of the anthropogenic factors in the rural economy that promotes the practice. This paper investigated the
benefits of the practice to the rural economy of Ghana. Data was obtained from survey conducted on 102 chainsaw lumber stakeholders using questionnaire across 8 forest districts in southern Ghana and analyzed descriptively. Results showed that the practice contributes to the provision of employment, Community infrastructure among others. More than 50% of chainsaw operators earned up to 97% of their household income from the practice, and thus considered it as the best alternative to agricultural income. Farmers, land owners and traditional authorities received eight categories of informal payments from chainsaw operations. These included payments from sale of trees, commission on trees scouted for logging and compensation for crop damages on farmlands during logging. Also, taxes were paid at community barriers to enable passage of processed lumber to the market. Illegal chainsaw milling was found to be lucrative. This coupled with operators conniving with rural communities and the limited supply of sawmill lumber to the domestic market poses major challenges to eliminating the practice. To minimize the chainsaw menace to curtail revenue loss to the state, sustain livelihoods and forest resources, there is need to provide fiscal incentives to encourage regular mills to supply adequate lumber to the domestic market. Rural youth must be supported to establish commercial short rotation timber and fuelwood plantations. Also, equitable distribution of tree benefits to resource owners especially farmers must be ensured.

sbritwum Mon, 05/30/2011 - 13:05

Responsible party

Forestry Research Institute of Ghana

Attachment	Size
illegal_milling.pdf	1.38 MB

Forests and Forest-based Products for a Greener Future / Forests and Climate Change forest crimes / illegal logging / forest governance / ghana domestic timber market / inequitable benefit sharing

Trends and status of illegal timber logging in three forest districts of the Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana

sbritwum — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 09:37:17 +0000

Trends and status of illegal timber logging in three forest districts of the Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana

Description

The study was carried out in three Forest Districts of the Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana, with the objective of finding out the occurrences of illegal timber logging. Data for the study include secondary data on illegal operations from the monthly offence report files and range report files of the Districts and data for the study covered the years 2001 to 2006. The year 2002 had the highest number of reported occurrence of illegal timber operations (24%). Most of the illegal timber logging took place off-reserve, with January being the month of most occurrences. An estimated minimum amount of GH¢29,348.02 was lost to the state through illegal logging. Triplochiton scleroxylon was the most exploited species representing 23% of tree species exploited by illegal loggers. Efforts at tackling illegal operations should be geared towards enforcing the laws, ensuring institutional stability and being vigilant in the month during which most of the illegal operations are likely to occur.

sbritwum Thu, 01/20/2011 - 03:37

Responsible party

Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG)

Attachment	Size
illegal_timber.pdf	253.66 KB

Forests and Forest-based Products for a Greener Future / Forests and Climate Change illegal logging / triplochiton scleroxylon / on and off-reserve logging