Sustainable development has three pillars: economic viability, environmental protection and social equity. If one of these pillars is unstable or missing, then no society can thrive.
It’s a quiet Thursday morning in Wruwru, a small village in the Akontombra District of the Western North region of Ghana. A little too quiet perhaps. No one is tending to the forest reserve, no children are playing under the trees and no community members are making use of the water from the river that flows through the forest. This is because today is a so-called ‘taboo day’. A day when the local community prays, rests and does not enter its forest.
It’s a hot afternoon in Ataasi Nkwanta, in the Ashanti region in Southern Ghana. Beads of sweat are trickling down the head of Ernest Anokye, the operations director of a small sawmill called Sir Charles Company Limited. “It never used to be this hot this time of the year,” says Anokye. “It’s getting hotter every year! But things are changing around here. Recently, our community planted trees to create shade and stop droughts. People are increasingly aware of the benefits of forests in the fight against climate change.”
Rita Asaana has some advice for her fellow women in Ghana — ‘look for work in a sawmill’. Having started out operating a veneer drying machine at the LLL sawmill in Kumasi in 2014, she was promoted in 2016 and now works as a receptionist there. And while she no longer does manual work for the company she has praise for the conditions of women who do.
En novembre 2018, un groupe de visiteurs du Laos s’est retrouvé dans une forêt au Libéria pour apprendre comment les fonctionnaires de l’administration forestière du pays suivent le bois tout au long de la chaîne d’approvisionnement. Quelques jours plus tard, ils ont fait de même au Ghana. Leurs visites – et celle d’une équipe de la République du Congo au Ghana – ont été effectuées dans le cadre d’accords commerciaux appelés Accords de partenariat volontaires (APV), conclus entre chacun des quatre pays et l’UE.
In November 2018, a group of visitors from Laos found themselves in a forest in Liberia, learning how the country’s forestry officials track timber through the supply chain. A few days later they got to do the same in Ghana. Their visits — and that of a team from Republic of the Congo to Ghana — were made in the context of trade deals called Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) that all four countries are engaged in with the EU.
Across Ghana, workers who cut down trees in forests, move timber from the forest to factories or process wood into finished goods can expect these and other improvements in the coming months. That’s because, as Ghana implements new systems for ensuring the legality of its timber and timber products, a spotlight is shining on worker safety like never before.
A quiet revolution has transformed Ghana’s forestry sector, laying the foundations for sustainable development, greater benefits for communities and improved access to international markets. A decade ago, much of the country’s timber was illegally-harvested. Law enforcement was weak and there was little accountability and transparency. Timber companies were defaulting on their legal obligations with respect to local communities.
There’s a paradox in Ghana. A hundred thousand chainsaw operators scattered across the country provide 72% of the lumber on the domestic market. They support livelihoods of about 650,000 people and inject much-needed cash into local economies. But every one of these chainsaw loggers is breaking the law.
Logs and Lumber Limited
Capture Ghana, EFI