Ghana government urged to rigidly enforce laws on forest protection

Government has been urged to act more robustly to enforce laws on the protection and management of the country’s forests, an international forestry expert said on Friday.

Ms Debora Van Bovenflier, a Forestry Consultant of a Netherlands-based NGO, Form International, said it was time drastic and punitive sanctions were taken against those wreaking havoc in the forests through illegal logging and mining.

She said everything should be done to make sure that laws, institutions and procedures were put in place to assure sustainable management of the forest were functional.

Ms Van Bovenflier was speaking at a day’s workshop on the development of a training centre to support the “Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT)” implementation in Ghana.

It was jointly organized by the Kumasi Wood Cluster, Form International and the West Africa Forest Programme Office.

Ghana, according to experts, could sustainably produce about two million cubic metres of timber annually, but it is said to be extracting 4.4 million cubic metres, twice the annual allowable harvest.

The goal, he said, was therefore to establish the framework for a training centre to strengthen the capacity of government bodies, private sector, NGOs and future professionals in the forestry sector.

The participants were drawn from timber companies, the universities, mining sector, the Forestry Commission and the Crop and Soil Research Institutes.

Mr Tieme Wanders, another Consultant of Form International, said all should join in the nation-wide effort to curb the on-going degradation by tackling illegal logging.

He noted that the nation’s forestry sector was becoming weaker and less significant and expressed confidence that a strong and vibrant training centre would improve the situation.

The participants were exposed to a wide range of techniques of timber harvesting that could help to reduce the growing destruction.

Source: GNA