Eliminating FLEGT Licensing bottlenecks: Supporting Management Plan Development in Ghana
Background
Being the first country to sign the VPA with the European Union, Ghana committed itself to ensuring sustainable forest management through the issuance of FLEGT Licensed Timber. Nonetheless to receive the FLEGT License according to criterion 1.1 of Ghana’s Timber Legality definition, it is mandatory for the country’s Forest Services Division (FSD) to develop strategic management plans for all forest reserves from which FLEGT Licensed timber will be sourced. The essence of the forest management plan is to serve as a guide in the management of the resources. As at the time of this project, 30 out of 70 estimated active production forest reserves did not have strategic management plans in place.
The project was funded by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) under their EU FAO FLEGT PROGRAMME and was implemented by Nature and Development Foundation in collaboration with the Forest Services Division (FSD) and the Resources Management Support Centre (RMSC) both of the Forestry Commission.
Achievements
The project which lasted for a period of eight (8) months contributed to the issuance of FLEGT Licenses in Ghana by supporting the collection, analysis and mapping of critical data (socio-economics, ecological, flora, fauna and carbon estimates) for ten (10) production forest reserves out of the remaining 30 reserves.
