Public Agenda (Accra)
Frederick Asiamah
6 July 2009
Accra — Timber companies participating in the timber certification process seem almost disappointed with the level of governmental support for the programme.
According to the six timber firms participating in the Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) Ghana programme, the certification process enjoys little or no governmental support. Government's commitment to the implementation of key policy reforms is also questionable.
Representatives of the six firms also appeared frustrated by huge tax burdens in addition to the high cost of certification process when they took part in a recent progress review workshop organised in Accra for the GFTN participant companies. The West Africa Forest Program Office of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-WAFPO) organized the workshop to allow the participating companies share their experiences, aspirations and frustrations.
In separate presentations, AYUM Forest Products (Mim) Ltd, Logs & Lumber Limited (LLL), Ghana Primewood Products Limited (GAP), SAMARTEX, John Bitar & Co. and Scanstyle Mim Ltd. were in unison about the importance of forest management certification and called for total commitment from the government, especially regarding the enforcement of policies on the sector.
Ghana embraced forest management certification as a tool for achieving sustainable forest management in the mid 1990s. At the time, government showed keen interest in the process and tasked the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources (then Lands and Forestry) to develop forest certification standards for Ghana. The ministry was also given the responsibility to develop human and institutional capacity that will oil the certification program.
The programme ran into difficulties after the development of a draft certification standard for the country. Thankfully, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) extended its Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) to Ghana in 2004 to provide technical guidance and framework for committed timber companies to achieve certification.
Mr. Mustapha Seidu is the GFTN Manager in charge of the West Africa Forest Program Office of the WWF (WWF-WAFPO). According to him, the GFTN was initiated to eliminate illegal logging, transform global marketplace into a force for saving valuable & threatened forest, facilitating trade links between companies committed to achieving responsible forest management, conserve forest ecosystem, and create conditions that provide economic and social benefits for businesses and people that depend on them.
GFTN has been supporting seven companies with six being participants of the certification programme. These companies together manage approximately 50 percent of forest reserve concessions in Ghana. Their combined export value was 32.4 percent of the total volume of wood exported by Ghana in 2006.
Dr. Kwame Asamoah Adam, Programme Coordinator of WWF-WAFPO, says the programme has achieved a lot. However, "there are still many hurdles to be cleared to be able to achieve certification in Ghana."
No Ghanaian timber firm has received certification due to several problems. One of the openly known hindrances has been the non-existence of forest management strategic plan for any of the over 2000 forest reserves across the country. The development of such strategic plans is the duty of the Forestry Commission.
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