Interview with John François
During the last meeting of the FAO Committee on Forest Development in the Tropics, in November 1976 in Rome, John François, Chief Conservator of Forests of Ghana and the Committee's Chairman, gave a radio interview in which he discussed the general state of forestry in Ghana. What he had to say applies as well to forestry in the tropics throughout the world. Mr. François was interviewed by Robert O. Miller, Chief of the FAO Information Division's Radio Branch, for Ghana radio.
MILLER: Mr. François, what is the state of forestry in Ghana today?
FRANÇOIS: Forestry holds a very prominent and important part in the total economy of Ghana because forest products are second only to cocoa which is our main foreign exchange earner. In fact, at the best of times forestry takes precedence over gold and other minerals as a foreign exchange earner. It is also increasingly recognized that it plays an important role because it provides certain ameliorative benefits to agricultural crops. In addition there is employment of people and acquisition of skills in using a resource which we have at hand. So it is very important to us in the national economy.
MILLER: What is the problem of forestry in the tropics as it would apply to Ghana?
FRANÇOIS: Well, one of the salient features of forestry in the tropics is basically the multiplicity of species, the heterogeneity of the forests. The tropical forests are composed of so many species, of so many ranges, of sizes, technical qualities, densities, colours, extractives, sizes which they finally grow to, and varying properties and there is also great variation and variability in the possibility of regenerating them. In Ghana, as in other tropical countries, the best of our species are not necessarily the easiest to regenerate. So this situation immediately creates problems for any forester. But apart from this, in some areas you can get hundreds of species on a hectare and only a few tend to have a demand on the market, or to have well-established end uses.
MILLER: Then it would be better if you simply had forests with a few commercially marketable species ?
FRANÇOIS: Well, if the total forests were composed of a smaller number of marketable species it would simplify the problem. But whether it is desirable in totality to just say as a simple solution that it is better to simplify the forests in terms of species, I think this is a bit of a debatable point because we do not know fully the total dynamics and interactions which are going on in the forests and this is an area where there has to be continuing study. I say this because in some areas we have of course resorted to plantations and are planting species which have a known end use and which we are planting for specific back-ups to industry. But when I think of the total ecology of the place, I am not sure whether, i the whole of the high forest zone of Ghana were converted in such a fashion, we would be doing equal justice to other possible benefits which the forests confer as they stand. This is just one thing.
MILLER: I would assume that also the forests as they are with their multiple variety could be used for recreational purposes and could be used also to aid agriculture as you have already pointed out?
FRANÇOIS: Yes, I think it would be desirable because there is change going on everywhere, changes in attitudes, and use of and pressure on land, and so on. And I think it would be desirable that certain tracks of forest be left in their natural state. But I have not in this connection mentioned animals also which have bearing on this, because there are many animals and they use different niches of the forests for different purposes. If you clear some natural forest and convert it all to a plantation of exotics you have changed a habitat. The animals then have the option of either adapting to what you have introduced-if this is possible-or else they will perish. So there is also that balance between the plant and the animal communities which again one has to be careful of. Today it is possible, with improvements in industry and so on, to utilize a wider range of the species that exist. If you can utilize a wider range of species from these forests without actually destroying or converting the natural forest, you can have values which meet the needs of economic investors and also retain the structure and the form of the forests to meet the other animal and plant communities which are dependent on it.
MILLER: Does the Government of Ghana have programmes of education - for want of a better term?
FRANÇOIS: Yes, we have mounted public education campaigns and are going to increase this sort of activity because we recognize that this is one of our weakest areas. Historically we have tended to impose the law: "You can't do this-you can't do that." I think that it is much better if the people themselves are receptive to the idea that good forest management is in their own interest. They would then be fully involved themselves in implementing the law. But, we have not used this enough, we have not made them more aware of what the whole thing could mean to them in the future, and I think this is a whole area that we will have to pursue with more vigour than we are doing at the moment.
MILLER: But up to now what has been the reaction of the people who are beginning to understand what you are trying to do?
FRANÇOIS: Well, the actual rural folk who reside and derive benefits from the forests in small ways appreciate the forests and forestry more than what one might call the financiers and industrialists who are out to turn money over at the most profitable level or the highest rate of return on the investment. The businessmen may understand, but they are not looking far enough ahead. They are looking more at the short-term returns rather than at the long-term interests of the total investment and the impact on the community holdings in forest areas.
MILLER: And what about your urban population? Are they beginning to appreciate the forests in Ghana?
FRANÇOIS: The urban population appreciate them in a very indirect manner-mostly from the produce that comes, the things they buy and the fuelwood which comes to the urban areas. But the actual thought processes of what actually happens in forests and so on are not so clear to them. When, for example, things get a bit out of hand, then they become aware. Prices of wood products shot up very fast recently, and this then created an issue and it gave us an opportunity for a little bit more of public relations and public education. When that sort of thing comes up, when there is a pinch, then people become more aware of the importance and the uses of the forest.
MILLER: What do you see as the future of forestry in Ghana and in Africa in general ?
FRANÇOIS: Well, I see an increasing role for forestry because the human needs and wants are increasing. Although people don't recognize it often enough and tend to take things for granted, we are very, very dependent on wood products in a direct fashion, and in many of our communities also there are things that one has gratis really in the form of mushrooms, snails and bush meat, or game meat as you call it in these parts, and for a multiplicity of things which are used in rural areas like canes for weaving baskets. There are all sorts of herbs, some of which have medicinal value, and so on. You can appreciate the total involvement of the forest in the lives of rural peoples. It is for this reason that I would like the distinction to be drawn between cellulose for industrial production on the one hand, and the other products which can have a direct impact on the lives of the people. The examples are many; in some parts it is honey and in some parts it is fuelwood. I can see people will have greater and greater appreciation of the forests but I also recognize the problem that we foresters will be competing with other land users, mainly the food growers. These problems have to be examined in each individual country.
MILLER: Thank you very much.
