Client: European Union
Project Duration: 2007-2012
Project Team Leader: Dr. E. Marfo
Background
This project assessed among other things the background of chainsaw milling in Ghana; comparison of chainsaw milling with conventional sawmilling; drivers of chainsaw milling and analysed the effectiveness of policy and legal framework on the chainsaw ban. The various studies were completed in 2009 leading to the preparation of thirteen (13) technical reports which were compiled into a publication. Following this, a synthesis of all major chainsaw related studies over the years was carried out and published.
In general, the studies concluded that the enforcement of the chainsaw ban has been ineffective, driven by a lack of adequate policy response to domestic timber demand, price differentials of chainsawn and sawmill timber, high rural unemployment, uncertainties with tree tenure and benefit sharing, unclear legal framework, corruption and weak institutional governance and political interference. The studies confirmed that chainsaw milling under an illegal regime is very wasteful and has the lowest recovery efficiency. The study recommended that dealing with legal supply of timber to the domestic timber market is key to dealing with illegal chainsaw milling. The recommendations of the studies were taken up by a multi-stakeholder technical group and informed the proposition of three (3) policy directions. These policy directions are currently under discussion by a national multi-stakeholder dialogue process (MSD) to negotiate specific policy options.