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Ghana is working with the European Union to promote a legal timber trade, with a strong emphasis on engaging local communities living in or near forests. However, farmers and communities are not always aware of their rights, which means that illegal activities by loggers in Ghana’s non-protected forests go unchecked. The FAO-EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Programme supports a non-profit association, the Ghana Partnership for Sustainable Forest Management, to raise awareness among farmers about their rights to negotiate compensation when logging harms crops on their land. The project has successfully promoted understanding among farmers and local communities of their rights, and has also helped loggers better understand their responsibilities under the law. The project contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by strengthening forest governance through improved local livelihoods and greater transparency.
For farmers and forest communities living on 500,000 hectares of forest land outside Ghana’s national forest reserves, the prospect of legal loggers wanting to cut down trees on their land could be a good thing. The loggers’ arrival can mean a welcome boost in family income. But logging, road construction, and heavy equipment and vehicles can severely damage farmers’ food and cash crops, compact the soil, and even contaminate precious water sources.
Recognizing the rights of communities affected by logging is one of the cornerstones of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement signed between Ghana and the European Union in 2009, which is part of the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan. Under the Voluntary Partnership Agreement, loggers in Ghana must prove the legality of their timber before it can be traded on domestic or international markets. This includes signing social responsibility agreements with forest communities affected by logging and paying fair compensation for any damage caused to their land. The regulation is particularly important for Ghana’s non-protected forests, which are the main source of timber and wood products for the domestic market and are often farmland or dedicated community forests where livelihoods can be easily disrupted.
Despite the legal provisions, a study conducted in several forest regions found that many farmers and forest communities were not aware of their rights and believed that loggers could exploit this for their own benefit. Farmers claimed that although loggers had permits, they often delayed payments, did not honour promises, and even cut down trees without farmers’ consent. 90% of farmers surveyed said they were not satisfied with any compensation paid to them, which came from verbal agreements with loggers.
“I will accept any amount as compensation for my damaged crops,” said Barima Agyarkwa Bekoe, a farmer in the Nkavi forest district. “I will only accept 100 cedis ($27) for 50 of my cocoa trees that were damaged.”
Do’s and Don’ts
To help remedy this situation, the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme provides support to non-profit associations Ghana Partnership for Sustainable Forest Management Improve legal awareness in the five forest regions.
The project team produced and distributed a concise “Dos and Don’ts” manual to Ghana Forestry Commission staff, loggers, and farmers, clearly outlining the processes required for logging outside protected areas and negotiating compensation.
The project provided farmers with face-to-face training on negotiating with loggers and developed a framework for estimating how much compensation farmers should receive in different situations. Loggers were trained on the need to prove the legality of the wood they put on the market through written records of logging and compensation agreements.
Strengthening forest governance
The project successfully raised awareness among loggers, farmers and community representatives in five regions about their rights and their responsibilities to sustainably manage forests. Civil society organizations continue to use the compensation framework to educate farmers about their rights to compensation, payment and verification. The Ghana Forestry Commission also trained its staff to use the template developed by the project to guide loggers in negotiating and recording payments.
“I can now negotiate compensation with confidence and take all factors into account during negotiations with loggers,” Bekoe said. While improving farmers’ livelihoods and reducing illegal logging, the project has also strengthened forest governance through greater transparency and contributed to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 2 (zero hunger), 15 (life on land) and 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions). The project has also helped Ghana fulfill its Voluntary Partnership Agreement. The country is on track to become only the second country in the world and the first in Africa to issue a FLEGT license, which will certify that timber exported to the EU has been harvested, transported, processed and traded in accordance with Ghanaian law.
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