Small businesses in Ghana's forestry sector neglected – Report
Research has shown that more than a million small and medium scale businesses (SMEs) operate within the forestry sector in Ghana.
But this group of SMEs are not properly captured in the country’s statistical index despite their huge social and environmental consequences.
According to a report published by the International Institute for Environment and Development, the forestry sub-sector has not only contributed to forest loss, but also to a gradual decline in employment prospects and a huge loss of revenue to the government.
The report titled, ‘Hidden Forestry Revealed’, written by Paul Osei-Tutu and others shows how these small forest enterprises produce a vast array of local products from construction timber, furniture and biomass energy to non-wood oils, food, spices, dyes, medicines and craft, not to forget eco-tourism ventures and the less tangible protection of environmental services, according to the new study.
But for local people in Ghana, the loss of forests has more immediate impacts. For example, forest loss outside Ghana’s forest reserves between 1960 and 1980 led to a 70-80 per cent decline in their contribution to Ghana’s timber production and a further loss of 19-27 per cent between 2003 and 2006.
Even in forest reserves there are problems. Only three out of 214 were maintained in ‘excellent’ condition by 1993 according to an independent review.
Loss of forest is undermining employment and revenue in the country’s fourth largest foreign exchange earner and this is exacerbating poverty.
The new study quantifies for the first time the role played in this story by small forest enterprises, which has less than 30 employees.
But because this sub sector has been largely left out of formal statistics, official planning and management, it is estimated to even outweigh the formal forest sub-sector in their contribution to livelihoods and their impact on the sustainability of the forests.
According to the report, the state does not take account of the sub-sector, which contributes to forest loss and a decline in employment prospects and revenue loss to the government.
A new alliance of government and non-government actors have been brokered by Tropenbos International Ghana, with funding from the International Institute for Environment and Development.
Under the banner of ‘Forest Connect’ this alliance is starting to reach out and engage with these small forest enterprises, clarify their resource rights, help to organise them and involve them in discussions about sustainability and provide business structures to support them. The long term vision is that small forest enterprises may become the foundation for sustainability, reduced carbon emission and reduce poverty in the industry.
The forest sector in Ghana is the fourth largest foreign exchange earner for the country. This contribution, however, comes mainly from the formal forest sub-sector consisting of regulated industries in timber and timber products.
The informal sub-sector, characterised by small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) broadly covering wood forest products, non-wood forest products and forest services, has been largely left out in forest planning and management even though it represents the main, additional or alternative income source for about three million people in Ghana. In terms of their contribution to livelihoods.
The neglect of the SMFE sub-sector results in revenue loss to the state through non-registration and non-payment of permit fees and taxes, illegal and unstable operations of some enterprises, and sub-optimal contribution to people’s livelihoods and poverty reduction.
But opportunities and support exist both at the national and international level and offer good prospects for the promotion of SMFEs. Efforts must be made to utilise the opportunities offered by these initiatives and deal with the challenges they present.
This report reviews the status of SMFEs in Ghana. It provides information on the various issues confronting the sub-sector and identifies mechanisms for harnessing the potential of SMFEs to effectively contribute to poverty reduction and sustainable forest management in Ghana.
Source: Daily Graphic