FOREST GOVERNANCE FORUM WEST AFRICA Accra June 7&8, 2011

1. FOREST GOVERNANCE FORUMWEST AFRICA Accra June 7&8, 2011 Richard Gyimah Chris Beeko TVD, FC-Ghana

2. Outline • Introduction- Importance of Ghana’s forest • Ghana’s commitment under the VPA • Where are we in the VPA process? • What systems have been developed? • Indicative Road map • Emerging Lessons

3. Introduction- Importance of Ghana’s Forest • In early 20th century forest cover about 30% (≈8 million ha) of the Ghana’s land area; • Forest cover today is about 1.6 million ha • Forest sector contribute about 3.5% GDP • Timber exports earn the country aboutUS$170 million per annum which accounts for about 18% of total exports • Timber sector provide direct employment (120,000 people) and indirectly provide supplementary income to about 2.5 million people • Though Annual Allowable Cut (timber harvest) is set at 2 million 3/yr, actual harvest is about 3.5 million 3/yr including illegal harvest Ghana’s forest cover- south of the country

4. VPA- What was negotiated? • An Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade in Timber Products • VPA initialed on September 3, 2008 in Accra • Ghana and the EU ratified the Agreement in June & Nov 2009 respectively at their parliaments

5. Ghana’s commitment under the VPA • Establish a Legality Assurance System (LAS) • Issue legality licenses on all European Union bound consignments • Non-European bound consignments will still go through LAS but will not carry FLEGT license • Domestic Market included … • Conduct a legislative review (two tier review) • Work within an agreed time frame as set in agreement with EU (Voluntary Partnership Agreement – VPA)

6. WHERE ARE WE IN THE VPA PROCESS?

7. Annex VIII: Schedule for the Implementation of the Agreement

8. Where are We in the Process? Nov. 2005 Jan. 2007 Sept. 2008 Mid. 2010 Nov. 2009

9. What Systems are being Developed? • Legality Verification Protocols • Improvements on the existing Wood Tracking System • To deliver an auditable and credible wood tracking system • Institutional Adjustments to meet requirements of the VPA • Review of areas of Legislation that assist in the implementation of the VPA

10. Legality Verification Protocols • Legality Matrix helps determine the legality of the timber • Consists of 7 Principles and 24 Criteria

11. THE WOOD TRACKING SYSTEM (WTS):simply a system for tracing wood products from export to forest including record keeping/documentation

12. Origin Resource Delivery to Export Origin Resource Delivery to Export Source Production Mill control Source Production Mill control assessment evaluation mill control assessment evaluation mill control Import Import timber Imports Imports declaration inspection Resource assessment & permit grant Plantation Plantation Resource Plantation Plantation Plantation Plantation harvesting Assessment for thinning, etc assessment Harvesting Harvesting Secondary/tertiary transformation at a different mill permit Tree felling & Log Log processing TUC TUC TUC grant Stock survey log Export transportation & & processed log yard entry wood shipment production Salvage Harvest Log Salvage permit Salvage preparation preparation allocation Confiscated Log removal Confiscated logs Confiscated authorisation allocation Supply Chain Types of Ghana’s WTS

13. TOOLS/TECHNOLOGIES of the wood tracking system

14. Tools to Improve Transaction Data Management System TRANSPORT Stock Enumeration Mill Arrivals & Processing HARVESTING

15. WTS Piloted

16. Examples of WTS Improving Forest Management Interface for Financial Transactions on Wood Flows Generate electronic maps through ARC-GIS software Internet/web-based application FORESTRY COMMISSION INVOICE

17. The System Components FC (DIVISIONS & UNITS) + INDUSTRY • Independent Monitor • IM Reports • Wood Tracking System • CoC • Application of Legal Standard • Record of Compliance • Licensing System (TIDD) • FLEGT Licenses TIMBER VALIDATION DEPT (TVD) AS INTERNAL AUDITOR OF FC. TIMBER VALIDATION COUNCIL-MULTISTAKEHOLDER BODY PRIMARILY FOR DISPUTE RESOLUTION

18. ‘Indicative’ Timeline/Roadmap

19. Emerging LESSONS

20. VPA Negotiation Lessons • Create ownership of the process beyond the technical nuclear group (VPA Secretariat) • The agreement is binding. Targets, objectives and milestones must be realistic • Keep the capacity of your institutions in mind when setting implementation milestones/timelines • Combined core team of lawyers and technical personnel need to thoroughly acquaint themselves with content of agreement before concluding negotiations (initialling) • Keep your legislature (Senate/Parliament etc.) on board

21. VPA Negotiation Lessons cont’ • Development of VPA-LAS systems: • Project approach vs implementation through established structures of bureaucracy • Selling the VPA to stakeholders • Government: make a case for revenue, SFM & good governance • Industry: make a business case • Civil Society: case for good governance and livelihood improvement

22. VPA Negotiation Lessons cont’ • May be a good idea to develop chain of custody systems together with legality verification protocols on one platform - WTS

23. cabeeko@yahoo.com; rich_gyimah@yahoo.com; Thank you