Constanze Haase
7 April 2004
The Ghana Forest Watch, a coalition of concern civil society organization says more transparency and accountability are absolute necessary to curb the massive destruction of Ghanaian forest.
The spokesperson of the coalition, Mr. Albert Katako told journalists at a news briefing in Accra yesterday that there is a need for the Forestry Commission (FC) to devote organizational and financial resources to generating and disseminating the required information to stakeholders proactively.
He described the state of the Ghanaian forest as alarming, saying in the last century the rate shrunk from 8.2 million ha to 1.8 million ha in the whole country. According to him, 80% of the forest had been destroyed. Only 20%, including wildlife reserves and protected areas are healthy.
The timber industry, he said is presently felling trees at four times the sustainable rate. He cautioned that if nothing is done now to curb the wanton felling of trees "Ghana's forest will disappear completely in five to ten years".
Mr. Katako who is the coordinator of CARE International's Forest Resources and Livelihoods programme said for example, the Pamu Berehum forest reserve lost it forest volume completely in the last ten years. This he added includes environmental quality, biodiversity and water bodies.
Moreover, Mr. Katako pointed out that 70% of Ghana's rural population, the poorest segment of the society, depend on forest for their livelihoods.
"Over-harvesting occurs because the forest estate is under-priced. Ghana's timber is the cheapest on the world market", Mr. Katako stated.
Interestingly, Katako stated that government take a very high level of 76% as income from timber royalties, leaving 24% for traditional authorities and land owners, he continued.
The Forest Watchers, urged the Forestry Commission to perform its role as an organization, which conserves and develops the forest and wildlife resources in Ghana, including create, protect and manage the permanent forest estates and regulate the harvesting of timber.
"That's the reason why Ghana Forest Watch demands timber leases existing before act 547 (which came into force in September 1998 and means that timber can only be harvested under a Timber Utilisation Contract signed by the minister of Lands and Forestry and ratified by Parliament) are cancelled and operations under them stopped immediately." Katako noted.
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