Ghana: Forestry Sector Policy Review Underway

Ghana’s Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is currently reviewing one of the sector’s major policies the 1994 Forest and Wildlife Policy.

The review has been necessitated by a number of emerging issues including institutional and legislative reforms within the forest sector and current global initiatives such as the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) between the Government of Ghana and the European Union (EU), the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) and the Non-Legally Binding Instruments (NLBI) project.

The new Forest and Wildlife Policy, which is currently in its final draft version boasts some key elements. There is a shift from timberization to biodiversity conservation which represents the new policy’s main focus on conserving and protecting biological resources, as opposed to feeding the timber industry which the 1994 policy did by prioritizing the provision of raw materials for industry over conservation of natural resources.

The new policy is also focusing on the restoration of degraded landscapes and has now made plantation development the government’s top priority.

It recognizes the need for increased involvement of local people in forest decision-making, more support for small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs)and has integrated climate change concerns.

The new policy further embraces global forestry instruments and is aligned to the new ECOWAS Forest Policy developed in 2005.

Commenting on the 1994 Forest and Wildlife Policy, Joseph Osiakwan, a Senior Planning Officer and Coordinator of the Policy Review Process, said significant achievements were made through its implementation.

For instance, the discretionary allocation of resources that granted large concessions to timber firms without any due process was changed to a transparent open bidding method for Timber Utilisation Contracts (TUC). Osiakwan acknowledged however, that some major challenges still plagued the sector in spite of the gains made.

Theseinclude high rates of deforestation and forest degradation, thereby depleting the raw material base for industry, low value-added processing of timber, low morale of forestry staff and performance below expectation, unexplored potential in ecotourism and under-tapped potential of civil society contribution to management decision-making.

Mr. Osiakwan mentioned that the 1996 Forestry Development Master Plan that supported the implementation of the Policy was also being reviewed.

The Chief Director of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Bruce Banoeng-Yakubo, said the policy review was an important intervention for sustainable forest management, which according to him has implications for the country’s security. The Coordinator of Forest Watch Ghana, Kingsley Bekoe, commended the review process saying it has allowed enough time for consultations, adding, we civil society groups are comfortable with the new focus the move from timberization to biodiversity conservation, capacity support and clarification of issues on tree tenure and benefits sharing. He hopes that the new Forest Development Master Plan document will also reflect all the various issues in the new Forest and Wildlife Policy, for implementation.

In a related development, Ghana’s Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have for some time now dedicated their efforts at examining various forest sector initiatives, the likely impacts of their implementation on the livelihoods of local communities and the role CSOs could play in implementing these initiatives.

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Posted by admin on Feb 11 2012. Filed under Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry