Global Response to Illegal Logging: The Case of Ghana

1. Illegal Logging and Related Trade: Indicators of the Global ResponseResults from Ghana Sam Lawson Chatham House Associate Fellow

2. Measuring the Response: Methodology • 5 producers: Brazil, Cameroon, Ghana, Indonesia, Malaysia (40%) • 5 consumers: UK, US, France, Japan, Netherlands • 2 processors: Vietnam, China (cons+proc= 50%) • Development and roll-out of methodology 2006-2009 • Methodology and results reviewed by independent experts

3. Government Response POLICIES Methodology • List of 48 ‘ideal’ policies/laws/regs needed for good governance • Summarised into 12 major headings • EG – Heading: Transparency- Q: Do policies, laws or regulations stipulate that information on location of concessions, ownership and contact details is publicly available? • Each policy scored on existence, design and implementation • Justification for scores given • Initial assessment by local consultant (Gene Birikorang) • Review by Chatham House and independent reviewers

4. Government Response – Ghana Results POLICIES Ghana Results (as of Sept 2009) Overall – still quite bad Good news: • Parliamentary oversight of forest agencies good; • Tenure and use rights arrangements better than other countries • Resource allocation procedures also good

5. Government Response – Ghana Results POLICIES Ghana Results Bad news • Worst scores of five producer countries in relation to information management and the use of best practice in law enforcement • Incoherence and ambiguity still exist in the legislative framework • Resource allocation procedures regularly sidelined • Transparency & CoC poor BUT – many improvements under way under VPA process

6. Government Response ENFORCEMENT DATA • Most useful data are not collected at central level or published • Study had to visit regional offices in person for data • Data for 2006-2008 show increased seizures (up 25%) and increased fines (up 60%) • Mostly due to increased small-scale seizures of chainsaw lumber CAUSE – not clear if increased enforcement or increased illegality • Collection rate for fines is very good (94%) • BUT – fines are very low (5-7% of value of timber seized) – not kept up to date with inflation – not proportionate or dissuasive

7. Government Response ENFORCEMENT DATA • Numbers of IL cases brought to court also up (up 160%) • BUT – backlog building up – courts cannot keep up • Causes – lack of capacity in judicial system - low capacity of FD to argue cases - lack of clarity in rules and regulations • Consequence – FD falling back on compounding procedures => low fines

8. Government Response EXPERT SURVEY (Sept 2009) • Relatively poor view of government response compared with other producer countries • Less perception of improvement in government response also • Significant numbers of respondents felt political will and enforcement effectiveness were getting worse

9. Private sector response Producer countries: voluntary certif/verif • No timber production in Ghana is yet independently verified as legal or sustainable, whereas the proportion in the other producer countries is already considerable and growing rapidly • Little take up of other schemes eg TTAP, WWF FTN • One concession (Samartex) has FSC Controlled Wood certification, but its FTN membership is currently suspended 9

10. Private sector response • The proportion of Ghana’s wood exports destined for ‘sensitive’ markets has been declining rapidly since 2001 • Most exports now destined for unsensitive markets (eg ply to Nigeria) • May be linked to exhaustion of species preferred by sensitive mkts • This may be one reason for the poor private-sector response

11. Levels of illegal logging Methodology • Wood balance – extent to which total timber demand (domestic use + exports) exceeds legal supply (legal production + imports) • Expert survey – questions on scale & nature of IL, and how it has changed over time Results • Wood balance (2006) = 65% of logging illegal • Expert survey (2009) = 59% of logging illegal • Large reductions in IL over last ten yrs in Indonesia, Cameroon and Brazil • NO evidence of large-scale reduction in Ghana – though some evidence from expert survey of slight improvements recently • Only a quarter of illegal timber production is from the formal sector – the bulk of the problem relates to artisanal ‘chainsaw’ logging

12. Conclusions / Recommendations Government Response • Significant improvements already underway, but more action needed • E.G. Ghana needs to improve best practice in enforcement: - higher penalties must be applied in practice - coordination between relevant agencies improved - greater use made of technologies and methodologies to detect illegal logging and timber smuggling • Action needed to speed up the processing of illegal logging cases through courts • Better information management and timber tracking systems needed • Resource allocation procedures properly implemented and not bypassed • Better control of licensed milling capacity so that it does not exceed legal supply

13. Conclusions / Recommendations Other • Domestic demand exceeds annual allowable cut – need to address how domestic demand can be met while continuing exports • Need to reverse decline in exports to more sensitive markets like the EU – crucial for value of VPA licensing system • Address factors holding back voluntary private sector response (eg certification)

14. Thank you More Information: - Chatham House report, briefing document, country report cards at www.illegal-logging.info (under ‘Indicators of Progress’) - My email: slawson chathamhouse.org.uk