Accra, April 29, GNA - Beginning from June this year, Ghana and the European Union (EU) will formalize a voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) to stem illegal logging, promote good governance in the country's forest management and ensure legal timber export from Ghana to the EU.

A document containing three separate briefs and a public awareness paper on the VPA made available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said it was estimated that about 70 per cent of the 3.3 billion metres of timber harvested annually in Ghana was illegal.

It said the EU received the majority of Ghana's timber exports and was therefore concerned about the high rate of illegal timber from the country. The EU therefore, initiated the VPA negotiations as part of its Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade Action Plan (FLEGTAP) launched in 2003 to nib illegal timber trade in the bud.

The Government of Ghana-EU VPA is expected to be initialled in June this year ahead of its signing and ratification later in the year.

The public awareness paper, written by Ms. Jennifer Karmona of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), communications consultants for the VPA negotiations in Ghana, said negotiations towards the VPA which began in December 2005 were near completion.

According to the paper, wide consultations with key stakeholders had been held under the auspices of IUCN and the local multi-stakeholder VPA Steering Committee, comprising representatives from government agencies, the timber industry and civil society.

Ms. Karmona told the GNA that the various stakeholders would present their reports on specific aspects of the negotiations at a final stakeholders meeting slated for May 6, 2008.

She said a ministerial briefing session to discuss the five key elements in the VPA - definition of legal timber, legality insurance, timber industry restructuring, domestic timber market and VPA impact studies - would then follow as the last lap of negotiations, adding that, studies on all the elements had been completed except the impact assessment studies.

"The ministerial briefing session is expected to lead to the adoption of an official country position on the VPA, which will then be submitted to Cabinet for approval before the signing and ratification to make the VPA legally binding," she said.

The paper noted that illegal logging, which comprised all activities ranging from harvesting, transporting, purchasing and selling of timber in violation of national laws, was partially responsible for 85 per cent decrease in forest cover in the country since 1900.

It said illegal logging activities included the use of corrupt means to gain access to the forest, extraction of timber without permission or from a protected area, cutting of protected species, extraction of timber in excess of agreed limits, fraudulent declaration to customs and the avoidance of taxes and other charges.

The paper said when the VPA became operational, it would provide standards to determine legal timber as against illegal timber and also provide a system of verification and establish institutional arrangements for the issuance of certificate of legality, which would include certificate of legal compliance (CLC) and certificate of legal origin (CLO).

"It will include an updated wood tracking system to trace timber from the forest through to export - an independent timber validation body will be established to continuously verify that timber meets the definition of legality before being granted a licence of legality," it said.

It said the VPA would help to improve forest governance and management and thereby help to protect Ghana's eco-system, adding that, it would also make the Ghanaian forest laws more clear, enforceable and supportive of proper forest management.

"The VPA, which is fast becoming a consensus-based agreement document, promises to make provision for the replacement of the current paper-based timber trade tracking system in Ghana with an automated system and thereby boost the forest related taxes and duties for the country."

The paper said the VPA's definition of legal timber would cover the source, allocation, harvesting, transportation, processing, trade and payment, adding that the standards for legal timber would largely be drawn from the existing Ghanaian forestry laws and policies.

It said the VPA would also provide a legality insurance scheme that would trace, identify and license timber as originating from legal sources for the EU market.