Accra, June 13, GNA - Preliminary reports from the ongoing voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) negotiations on how to stop illegal logging and illegal timber trade between Ghana and European Union (EU) have indicated that Ghana's forestry resources and industry were in danger of a hard fall if changes are not made to the current rate of timber harvest in the country. A media backgrounder to the report made available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said the current annual timber harvest in Ghana, including illegal timber, was around 3.3 million cubic metres, which was several times more than the amount the country's forests could deliver in a sustained manner. "If changes are not made in the near future the country's forest resources, and accordingly, its forest industry, will suffer a 'hard fall'", the media backgrounder said.

The EU receives over 50 per cent of Ghana's timber exports, whiles half of total timber harvested in Ghana is consumed by the domestic market, out of which 70-80% of are from illegal sources, mainly chainsaw operators, the paper said.

It, however, noted the VPA, which was primarily intended to ensure that only legal timber was imported into Europe from Ghana, would also help to move the country to a more sustainable regime and thereby save the forest resources.

The media backgrounder noted that after several years of negotiations and wide consultations both in Ghana and in Europe, VPA negotiations were finally nearing conclusion, as the various technical working groups have recently released their recommendations on how to move forward with each issue involved.

"Additionally, a group of international consultants have conducted an impact assessment of the VPA to assess the major economic, social and environmental effects of the agreement on Ghana and released their recommendations as well," it said.

The recommendations focused on four main areas where necessary changes were needed. They included legal standards; timber legality assurance; restructuring of the local industry; and how to sustain the domestic market outside of illegal timber supply.

It observed that the current policy governing the forest sector was the 1994 Forest and Wildlife Policy, saying that there had been weak implementation of the policy's objectives over the past 14 years. "The working group on the legal standard has therefore recommended that legislative reforms be undertaken to create a Consolidated Forest Act and Legislative Instruments to effectively support the 1994 Policy." The paper also noted that the domestic market largely depended on illegal chainsaw operators, who usually supplied timber at a cheaper rate than the legal timber concessionaires.

It observed, for instance, that the current forestry sector benefit sharing scheme did not compensate farmers for nurturing trees on their farms and so farmers tended to partner with chainsaw operators to harvest the trees on their property for a fee.

Under the VPA, legal timber would be clearly defined and a stringent legality assurance scheme would be put in place to track wood from the forest to the port, and to create certificates for legal timber.

This, the paper said, would ensure increased revenue generation from the forestry sector and transparency in the sector's revenue collection and disbursement.

The VPA would also set the tone for a major restructuring of the Ghana's timber mills industry, which is largely characterised by old and inefficient equipment designed to only process large diameter logs. It proposes to shift the composition of timber harvest from Ghana's forests by encouraging the use of lesser-used and lesser-known species and also promote the use other alternatives such as bamboo.

As part of the timber industry restructuring programme various timber processing mills would be provided with the necessary equipment capable of processing the alternative and lesser-used species. Under the VPA, illegal chainsaw operators might be re-trained to work in Recovery Mobile Teams (RMT) designed to work with timber concession holders to exploit alternative species.

"These changes will be complemented by enhanced marketing of Ghanaian timber products both locally and in Europe, and improved monitoring of markets in order to increase knowledge of niche markets and improve trade collaboration prospects," the paper said.