Public Agenda (Accra)
Selorm Amevor
11 July 2008
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Forestry Commission, Professor Nii Ashie Kotey has said that the lack of adequate financial resources, insufficient apacity of personnel and logistics is having an adverse effect on the activities of the Commission.
In addition technological changes and advances have also placed new demands on the commission and this requires investment to respond to changes in the technological needs of the Commission.
According to him, this lack of capacity has affected the plans of the Commission to bring into fruition a significant number of management plans to help preserve the nation's forest.
"These impacts on our capacity to achieve sustainable forest management and meet the requirements of certification," he added.
He indicated that currently his outfit through its corporate plan is seeking alternative means of generating revenue to support its work, in particular the development and continuous updating of Forest Management Plans.
Prof. Kotey said this in Accra at the opening of a two day workshop organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature on forest management planning which seeks to create a platform for a stakeholder consultation on meeting requirements for forest certification.
According to him despite the combined efforts of government , Civil Society and the Global Forest Trade Network (GFTN) in providing support to promote forest certification, Ghana is yet to have certified timber on the world market.
The CEO indicated that assessments made on companies that seek to achieve forest certification show major gaps, some of which are within their control and urged stakeholders to work collectively to address these gaps to enable the country derive maximum market benefits from the industry.
He observed that the Forest and Wildlife Policy of 1994 recognizes the important role effective management planning plays in sustaining the nation's forest resources for socio-economic and environmental needs of the country.
According to him the operationalisation of the 1994 Policy is manifested in the implementation of actions such as the Forestry Master Development plan, Natural Resources Management Programme and the Re-establishment of the Forestry Commission.
Other actions include the enactment of the Timber Resources Management Act and subsequent amendment legislation, validation of legal Timber project and the Voluntary Partnership Agreement.
The workshop, he said, could not have come at a better time considering how current market signals indicated that there would soon be a demand for certified Ghanaian timber.
He urged stakeholders at the forum to keep the issue of certification as the ultimate goal and called for more co-operation between the FC , the timber trade associations, private sector, civil society ,non-governmental associations and all stakeholders,
Prof. Kotey further urged them to take full advantage of the initiative and ensure sustainable management of the country's forest.
He expressed the hope that by the end of the two days of deliberations effective and practical recommendations would have been made to address the numerous challenges facing the country in planning for a sustainable management of its forests.
The Project leader at the WWF-West Africa Forest Program Office, Mr. Mustapha Seidu in a presentation said the GFTN is a WWF initiative aimed at eliminating illegal logging, transforming the global marketplace into a force for saving valuable & threatened forest and facilitating trade links between companies committed to achieving responsible forest mgt
According to him this ensures the conservation of forest ecosystem; create conditions that provide economic and social benefits for businesses and people that depend on them.
He indicated that the GFTN has become a global initiative operating in 34 producing and consuming countries, working with over 360 companies and community-based operations, trading in more than US$42 billion of forest products annually, managing 26.1 million hectares worldwide and with participants controlling 12 % of global trade in industrial roundwood.
Mr. Seidu said that in Ghana GFTN has been supporting 7 companies, managing about 450,000 hectares (approx. 50 % of forest reserve concessions) and exporting about 32.4% of the total volume of wood exported in 2006 with a market value of -66 million representing about 38.5% of total value of wood exported in 2006.
Forest management certification was first embraced at a stakeholder's workshop in 1996 and once field-testing began, it became evident that a lack of forest management knowledge was causing practical forest management to fall below the required standards.
It is the goal of the workshop to identify the criteria for expanding timber utilization contracts and developing guidelines that will align with the Forest Stewardship Council's and other international agencies requirements.
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