Ghana : Indicators

There is an emerging national forest forum comprising representation of members from various forums at the district level. It is not yet very national in character especially because only 35 out of 170 Administrative Districts have forest forums and also because the processes for representation require streamlining. As it stands now, it is more of a top down approach.
The government together with development partners have established an annual Environment and Natural Resources Sector Summit where the performance of the forest, mining and environment sector is reviewed. This has evolved as part of the Natural Resource and Environmental Governance (NREG) sector budget support. The third meeting was held in August 2010 and saw improved civil society participation (from 2 in 2008, 5 in 2009 and 10 in 2010) in the summit.
More significantly, civil society in March 2010 organised its own parallel review of the environment and natural resource sector as part of an on-going civil society support facility called KASA. The results of the review were presented to government at the summit as civil society input. Even though the KASA project has officially ended, other initiatives like STAR-GHANA (Strengthening Transparency, Accountability And Responsiveness In Ghana) will provide support to CSOs and this may provide avenues for reviewing the environment and natural resources sector regularly. It is noted though that all these have no legally binding mechanisms. Read more...

District forest forums are established in 35 forest districts with support from both government and civil society organisations but these have no legal status.
A review carried out by Civic Response of the status of the Forest Forums in Ghana at the beginning of 2010, concluded that the forums have inadequate linkage with key policy making institutions and platforms at the district level such as district assembly environmental and forestry sub- committees, and this affects policy uptake of issues generated at the forums.
There is enthusiasm among those who participate but they are not very representative and women’s participation is very low. The project supported two queen mothers associations to build the capacities of their members on forest laws and policies. The objective was to strengthen and empower them to actively participate in forest governance issues and moderate the activities of the male counterparts. Read more...

Forest Watch Ghana led the consultation process on the VPA and developed a list of consultative groups that broadly involved larger civil society beyond FWG CSOs. The process was also facilitated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). These form the main thrust of the stakeholder consultative group. But the process is not yet formalized and is not embedded in government and so remains completely informal. The consultative process was also used for the discussions leading up to the development of the REDD plan. Read more...

The government has not published the results of forest-related consultations. Read more...

Ghana has not ratified Convention 169 but Convention 107 with its provision on the recognition of the rights of Indigenous and Tribal People is still in force. There are no specific laws related to the implementation of Convention 169. However, the Directive Principles of State Policy as contained in the Constitution (Chapter 6, Art 37 clause 2a) directs the State to enact appropriate laws to assure “the enjoyment of rights of effective participation in development processes...” On this basis, citizens have made demands for consultation in various development activities including timber harvesting.
The Procedure for granting timber rights as contained in LI 1649 on identification of lands suitable for the grant of timber rights, upholds the right of land owners and those with interest in land slated for timber allocation to be consulted. Read more...

The Timber Resource Management Regulations LI 1649 indicates that before an area is given out for timber rights a written consent of the owners is required. Sub-Part II Section 3 of the LI states inter alia;
“… Publication to obtain consent—
3. (1) Where the land identified and proposed by the Chief Conservator of Forests as suitable for the grant of timber rights is not public land or forest reserve, the District Forest Officer in whose district the land is situated shall, with the assistance of the District Chief Executive seek the written consent and agreement of the owners of the land for the exercise.”
Procedures for the obtaining consent and the processes for resolving conflicting interest in the land are established in the regulations. Read more...

There is no established procedure for consultation. Read more...