Ghana : Data

Transparency norms

The general democratic environment in Ghana allows for freedom of speech and augurs well for demands for transparency and public accountability. The Freedom of Information Bill was approved by Cabinet on 3 November 2009 and tabled in Parliament in February 2010 after being in discussion for almost 10 years. Even though several CSOs have called on Government to expedite action on its passage into law, very little progress has been made. However, citizens’ persistent demands for information in the media are keeping the Government in check. Read more...

Legal standing

The legal standing of communities and civil society organisations are guaranteed under the Constitution of Ghana and generally respected. Provided that NGOs renew their registration and are not in violation of the purposes for which they are established, they receive a lot of support from the government, be it local or international. This recognition enables them to enjoy tax exemptions and other benefits from government and other stakeholders. Read more...

Forest legal framework

Ghana’s forest sector has an elaborate superstructure of constitutional rights, seemingly progressive policies, comprehensive laws, well-developed institutions, and a cadre of well trained professional foresters. The workings of the sector are, however, determined largely by the underlying structure of exploitative and repressive relations between the corporate timber industry and the state on the one hand and forest-dependant communities and the public on the other. These relations, established under colonial rule, remain intact throughout the natural resource sector 50 years after Independence.
Consultations on the reform of the policy and legal instruments in the forest sector have been on-going since 2008 following the ratification of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and other related instruments in Ghana. However, the process has been very slow and to date drafts of consolidated forest and wildlife laws are in circulation but unlikely to be in any form that can be presented to Parliament in the first half of 2011. Read more...

Transparent access to decision-making

No legally recognised mechanism for public participation in decision making exists. Nonetheless, various platforms are evolving for public participation. Forest Forums in some forest districts provide limited opportunity for citizens input into policy discussions.
As part of the Government and Development Partners’ policy dialogue, civil society is invited to participate in the quarterly discussions at Environment and Natural Resource Sector group and monthly to the Forestry sub sector group. Read more...

Tenure and land use

For all forest reserves, the ownership of the land is clarified in the reservation gazette. However, the ownership status is usually not covered with title (and documentation) but under customary and traditional norms. Most lands, on which there are forests, are stool lands under the custodianship of stool chiefs. The hierarchy of land ownership in Ghana complicates forest tenure and ownership and even though the question of forest tenure and ownership is not under intense debate currently, it is a subject recognized by government and all stakeholders as important to deal with as quickly as possible.
There is therefore no clear title ownership to forest land even though there is sufficient acceptance of customary ownership to reach agreement on which chiefs should receive royalties for forest operations for most forest areas. Read more...

Allocation of permits / user rights

There is a process defined in law for the allocation of timber permits, but this is hardly followed. Where there is a public competitive bidding process, it is open to the public; but responses from the survey suggest that the allocation process is not transparent. The final contracts are ratified by the Parliament, but the contract document is usually not available to the general public. Read more...

Logging operations

Even though the FC has indicated in the Charter that they will be transparent in their management practices, they do not normally put information on logging operations in the public domain. Read more...

Extraction of other forest products

Information on the location of non-timber forest products is very limited. No quotas are given for NTFP and other forest extractives allocation, so no public information is provided on such activities.
When citizens are duly informed about extraction of forest products, they will be obliged to support the process and will not condone illegalities in the sector. Read more...

Environmental services

In general there is very little consideration for environmental services provided by the forests in Ghana. Several arguments have been made for the environmental services provided by forest resources to be valued, but these have hardly moved beyond the level of discussion.
Different institutions other than the forest authorities are responsible for different services provided, but there is no coordination of efforts. For instance, the Water Resources Commission has responsibility for water resource allocation and charges fees for water abstraction but there is no collaboration with the Forestry Commission (FC) on the management and protection of the water sources. Even though it is not yet carried out, the EPA would be the responsible institution for carbon assessment, but on the current evidence there are few signs of collaboration with the FC. Read more...

Cultural services

There is very little regard for culture in forest management practices in general. The spiritual resources of communities are not factored in the discussion and this generally affects the extent of collaboration with forest communities. Read more...

Extra-sectoral activities affecting forests

The process for decision making on mining activities is completely non-transparent to the extent that even though the same parent ministry is responsible for both forestry and mining, permits are sometimes given for mining prospecting in forest reserves against the better judgment of the Forestry Commission. Read more...

Fiscal regime: tax collection and redistribution

Distribution of land revenue including forest revenue is enshrined in the 1992 constitution. However civil society and traditional authorities often challenge the position of the Forestry Commission on what actually constitutes revenue. The figures for collection and distribution are published in some detail, but usually late. Social responsibility agreements are included by law in the allocation of timber resources to timber companies, and the law provides for the signing of social responsibility agreements by timber firms with forest fringe communities.
As part of a Constitutional review process on-going in Ghana, a coalition of Civil Society groups made representations to the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) on 7th October 2010 requesting for review of several provisions in the constitution including a clear definition of forest revenue and the sharing arrangement. Read more...

Forest law enforcement

There is a general perception on connivance of officials in the perpetration of illegal forest activities and this coupled with the lack of transparency and accountability by local authorities (traditional authorities and district assemblies) de-motivates citizens in assisting with law enforcement. Read more...

'Anti-transparency' norms

There are no specific laws. The authorities use the absence of Freedom of Information Law as an excuse and therefore choose not to disclose information. Read more...

Publications

In districts where there is a Customer Services Officer copies of publications are kept in the offices but these are not publicly displayed and not many people know about the availability of publications. Read more...

2010

Themes