WWF develops legal guide for timber traders in Ghana, Liberia

The West African Office of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has developed a legal guide for timber exporters and importers from Ghana and Liberia.

The guide was developed after the WWF completed a 17-month project on what it calls “Facilitating compliance with Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade and European Union Timber Regulation (EU TR) in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Liberia”.

The new guide is to be used for various capacity building activities targeted at eliminating illegal logging from the supply chains in Ghana and Liberia, according to the WWF.

The WWF also developed a strategy document for civil society organizations in environment, forest and social sectors as they seek to present a common front in the negotiation and implementation of a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) in Cote d’Ivoire.

The WWF indicated that the document developed for Ghana and Liberia even though very useful, is only a first step.

“It is a good tool for other civil society organizations to use in their community educational programmes on forest management for instance,” the Swiss-based advocacy group said December 15, 2012.

Moving forward however, the WWF called for “a clear need to further simplify this document” for specific target groups.

By Ekow Quandzie