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Forestry policies, institutions and programmes Ghana

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Administration
The mandate for forestry in Ghana is vested in the Ministry of Lands and Forestry, which is responsible for policy formulation and coordination of sectoral programmes towards attainment of national goals.

These programmes are carried out by a semi-autonomous Forestry Commission which is headed by a Chief Executive and is governed by its own board and chairperson, appointed by the President of Ghana. The Forestry Commission was created outside the civil service to replace the previous Forestry Department. This institutional change arose from the Structural Adjustment Programme and necessitated the retrenchment of many experienced forestry personnel.

The Forestry Commission of Ghana is responsible for the regulation of utilization of forest and wildlife resources, the conservation and management of those resources and the coordination of policies related to them. It embodies the various public bodies and agencies that were individually implementing the functions of protection, management, the regulation of forest and wildlife resources. It has five divisions: Forest Services Division; Wildlife Division; Timber Industry Development Division; Wood Industries Training Centre; and Resource Management Support Centre.

Policy
Ghana¿s ongoing strategy to address the challenges of natural resource management is largely embodied in the: National Environmental Action Plan (1990-2000), Forest and Wildlife Policy (1994), Forestry Development Master Plan(1996-2000), National Land Policy (1999), Science and Technology Policy (2000) and Action Plan for Science and Technology Management.

The Forest and Wildlife Policy (1994) provides a basis to develop a national forest estate and timber industry able to supply the full range of benefits required by society in a manner that is ecologically sustainable and that conserves the country¿s environmental and cultural heritage. It has the following key objectives

• management and enhancement of Ghana¿s permanent estate of forest and wildlife resources;
• promotion of viable and efficient forest-based industries, particularly in secondary and tertiary processing;
• promotion of public awareness and involvement of rural people in forestry and wildlife conservation;
• promotion of research-based and technology-led forestry and wildlife management, utilization and development;
• development of effective capability at national, regional and district levels for sustainable management of forest and wildlife resources.

Legislation
The Timber Resources Management Act of 1997 aimed at the consolidation and replacement of all existing forestry legislation and introduced an innovative instrument for forestry operations concessionaires, namely the Timber Utilization Contract (TUC), which requires a Social Responsibility Agreement with local landowners and traditional authorities.

The National Land Policy of 1999 seeks to address some of the fundamental problems associated with land management in the country. The document includes important sections covering wetlands, national parks and reserves.

Programmes
In order to implement the new Forest and Wildlife Policy, a medium-term Forest Development Master Plan was prepared for the period 1996 to 2020; this also contains a comprehensive Wildlife Development Plan 1998-2003. These are both consonant with the National Medium Term Development Plan Ghana Vision 2020, which has the objective of raising living standards to the level of a middle-income country by the year 2020.

Funding and Implementation of the Forestry Development Master Plan is carried out through the multi-donor assisted Natural Resources Management Programme, a ten-year sector investment programme coordinated by the Ministry of Lands and Forestry, in collaboration with three other ministries. The programme, funded primarily by the World Bank with co-financing from DFID, the European Union, DANIDA, Netherlands Development Assistance and the Government of Ghana, aims at increasing the incomes of rural communities owning these resources. Other donors active in the forestry sector are the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, the World Food Programme, the German Agency for Technical Cooperation, the African Development Bank and the Global Environment Facility.

In 1998, the Ministry of Lands and Forestry started the development of a Forest Management Certification System and of a comprehensive computerized system for log tracking, with assistance from the EU and the Netherlands.

The export from Ghana of round logs is effectively banned, and since 1997 levies have been introduced on exports of air-dried timber of nine important species. Much greater control has been exercised on the annual allowable cut from forest reserves, but there has been a recent relaxation of harvesting limits in off-reserve forest areas to fill the gap between resource supply and processing capacity.

In September 2001, the President of Ghana launched the National Forestry Development Programme with an ambitious annual planting target of 20 000 ha. This relies on private-sector involvement, particularly through agroforestry ¿taungya¿ practices by local farmers on areas of degraded forest reserves. In July 2003, the Community Forestry Management Project was officially launched. This project underwent major changes in emphasis from the private sector to community forestry.

Last updated: March 2004