The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Nii Osa Mills, has tasked the board of the Forestry Commission to design and implement strategies that will help restore the country’s depleting forest cover.

He noted that deforestation and degradation have taken a northerly turn in the last decade, requiring concerted efforts to tackle the disturbing trend.

“The impacts of deforestation and forest degradation are now very obvious (loss of biodiversity, extinction of prime timber species, drying-up of water-bodies, climate change) and this should be a great source of worry to Ghanaians. In this regard, there is need to rapidly restore declining values and functions of the forest to ensure a continuous flow of benefit to all segments of society," he said.

Mr. Mills made these remarks in Accra when he inaugurated a new board for the Forestry Commission with the mandate to develop policy strategies to tackle challenges confronting the forestry sector.

The board, chaired by Eddie Prah, is charged with the responsibility of providing strategic direction for: the regulation and utilisation of forest and wildlife resources; the conservation and management of those resources; and the coordination of policies related to the forest and wildlife resources throughout the country.

Current data on the state of the country’s forest cover is unavailable. However, anecdotal evidence from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) suggest that between 1990 and 2010 Ghana lost an average of 125,400 ha or 1.68% per year. In total, between 1990 and 2010 Ghana lost 33.7% of its forest cover or around 2,508,000 ha.

It is also estimated that the rate of deforestation currently stands at 65,000 hectares per annum and Ghana’s total forest cover, which stood at 8.2 million hectares representing 34 percent of the total land area at the turn of the last century, had decreased to 1.6 million hectares.

Presently, the country’s forest cover is under threat from the activities of illegal mining, illegal logging, and deforestation among others.

The annual cut of illegal chainsaw milling is projected to be about 1.7 million cubic metres, and together with other illegal logging and harvesting amounts to 3.7 million cubic metres -- almost double the official annual allowable cut of 2 million cubic metres.

The chairman of the Forestry Commission Board, Mr. Prah, assured government that the board will work in line with its mandate to achieve its goals and targets.

“I wish to assure the minister and his deputies that the board under my chairmanship will ensure that it does not overstep its boundaries -- either upward to your office as the initiator of policy or downward to the management of the commission as the implementer of policy. We shall stay within our boundaries of developing strategies for policies and guiding and supervising implementation.

“The priority areas of the commission currently are plantation development, eco-tourism and payment for environmental service. We are aware of the many challenges that face Ghana’s forestry sector, including illegal logging, illegal mining in forest reserves and the menace of chain-saw operations,” he indicated.

The board chairman further noted that the board’s success will depend on effective communication and cooperation between the ministry, management and the board.

“First, I will ask that the doors of the ministry and the lines of communication between the ministry and the board continue to be open; and second, that management and staff of the commission understand their roles and resolve, as we are resolved, to cooperate with all to ensure we succeed in our assignment,” he added.