By Nicholas Osei-Wusu
The European Union Ambassador to Ghana, Mr. Irchad Razaaly, says Ghana has a very strong system of traceability of identification of trees in specific forest reserves meant for harvesting timber for export in the implementation of the country’s legality assurance system and forest law enforcement and trade licenses.
According to him, Ghana is on the path of becoming the second country in the world to sign the Forest Trade Law Enforcement with the European Union toward sustainability of the exportation of forest resources for the benefit of the people.
Mr. Razaaly made the observation in the Ashanti region during a visit to the Bobiri Forest Reserve.
As part of his commitment to protecting the country’s forest resources, Ghana in 2009 signed the Voluntary Partnership Agreement, VPA, under the European Union’s Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade, FLEGT Action Plan.
The VPA is a bilateral trade agreement between the EU and timber-exporting countries willing to put in place systems to guarantee that timber or wood exported to the European Union are from legal sources with the aim of sustainably protecting forests and forest resources for the good of the country.
As part of the quality assurance measures in the implementation plan, timber and timber products sourced legally are to be assigned FLEGT Licenses for tracking and verification.
As part of his monitoring, the Ambassador of the EU in Ghana, Irchad Razaaly and his deputy, have visited one of Ghana’s well protected forest reserves, the Bobiri Forest Reserve.
The Bobiri Forest Reserve, located near Kubease in the Juaso Forest District in the Ashanti region has only one entry and exit route for vehicles that allows all the interest groups and individuals such as the fringe communities, to closely monitor movement into and out of the reserve.
Accompanying the EU Ambassador on the field visit were some officials of the Forestry Commission led by the Chief Executive, John Allotey, and a representative from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.
While in the Forest Reserve, the team first familiarized with the Butterflies Sanctuary and the biodiversity.
They also visited one of the two legal concessionaires with the requisite permit to harvest timber for both the local and international markets to ascertain the processes involved in the legal sourcing of timber from the Forest Reserve.
The EU Ambassador and the team then interacted with the traditional leadership of Kubease and Nobewam, two of the fringe communities of the Bobiri Forest Reserve to find out the level of involvement and appreciation of the chiefs in the protection of the Forest, and also to ascertain whether or not the communities receive their Social Responsibility Agreement, RSA benefits, which is five percent of the forest resources.
The chiefs representing the two communities, Nana Kwame Santuo, Gyaasehene of Nobewam, and Nana Yaw Kyere, chief of Kubease, though expressed the appreciation of the people for the level of involvement of the host communities in protection of the forest, had some concerns for the consideration of the Government.
They asked for an upward adjustment in the percentage of the RSA considering the prevailing economic situation in Ghana, which they said, has negatively affected substantially how much accrues to them for social development.
The EU Ambassador and the team then followed up to Logging and Lumber Limited, LLL, a free zones timber and wood processing enterprise at Asokwa in Kumasi to find out adherence to the forest law enforcement and trade licenses.
They were conducted around the various processing systems from the supply of the timber to the packaging for export during which it came to the fore that all legally sourced timber have been clearly marked to ensure no contraband raw material enters their yard.
The Managing Director of LLL, Avedis Jeghalian, told GBCNews that compliance with the law has been of immense help to the company’s adherence to the licenses regime on the international wood market and compliance with the various national laws regulating their operations.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, John Allotey, said it is in the best interest of Ghana to ensure that the FLEGT system is enforced especially if the forest resources are to be protected.
Similarly, the compliance will enable Ghana access to the European market in the international trade of wood and wood products.
The EU Ambassador to Ghana, Irchad Razaaly, expressed satisfaction with the system put in place by Ghana toward sustainable forest resources.
“Ghana is on the path to be the 2nd, worldwide partner, to sign the Forest Law and Trade Enforcement with the European Union. I’ve seen a solid system of traceability, which is based on the identification of even individual trees identified in specific plots”, Mr. Razaaly observed.
Part of the Reserve is also being used by the Forest Research Institute of Ghana, FORIG of the CSIR for its research purposes while at the same time, hosting Ghana’s Butterflies Sanctuary for biodiversity.
