Project Team Leader:
Marfo, E.

Background
Stakeholder participation and consultation at the national and sub-national levels is an important pillar for the development of REDD+. Ghana claims to have developed its REDD Readiness Plan through a highly participatory and consultative process using the notion of stakeholder representation in designing the institutional architecture for participation. The rhetoric of democratic representation is highly visible in Ghana’s constitution and forest policy statements but to what extent was the espoused democratic principles regarding representation implemented by intervening authorities who designed and implemented the REDD Readiness strategy consultative process.

Project Team Leader:
Marfo, E.

Background
Stakeholder participation and consultation at the national and sub-national levels is an important pillar for the development of REDD+. Ghana claims to have developed its REDD Readiness Plan through a highly participatory and consultative process using the notion of stakeholder representation in designing the institutional architecture for participation. The rhetoric of democratic representation is highly visible in Ghana’s constitution and forest policy statements but to what extent was the espoused democratic principles regarding representation implemented by intervening authorities who designed and implemented the REDD Readiness strategy consultative process.

Project Team Leader:
Marfo, E.

Background
Stakeholder participation and consultation at the national and sub-national levels is an important pillar for the development of REDD+. Ghana claims to have developed its REDD Readiness Plan through a highly participatory and consultative process using the notion of stakeholder representation in designing the institutional architecture for participation. The rhetoric of democratic representation is highly visible in Ghana’s constitution and forest policy statements but to what extent was the espoused democratic principles regarding representation implemented by intervening authorities who designed and implemented the REDD Readiness strategy consultative process.

Project Team Leader:
Marfo, E.

Background
Stakeholder participation and consultation at the national and sub-national levels is an important pillar for the development of REDD+. Ghana claims to have developed its REDD Readiness Plan through a highly participatory and consultative process using the notion of stakeholder representation in designing the institutional architecture for participation. The rhetoric of democratic representation is highly visible in Ghana’s constitution and forest policy statements but to what extent was the espoused democratic principles regarding representation implemented by intervening authorities who designed and implemented the REDD Readiness strategy consultative process.

Project Team: 
Darko-Obiri, B., Obeng, E.A., Oduro, K.A., Peprah, T., Damnyag, L., Derkyi,N.S.A., Opuni-Frimpong, E., Nutakor, E. and Adjei, R.

An important product derived from forests and woodland is wood fuel, which accounts for over 85% of the total energy consumption of West African countries and provides for the energy needs of most households. e Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’ (IPCC) fourth assessment report on mitigation of climate change puts wood fuel as the only source of fuel for one third of the world’s population with this demand expected to double in the next 50 years. e IPCC report continues to estimate the world wide harvesting of wood as 60% industrial round wood and the remaining 40% as wood fuel, primarily charcoal and  firewood. Though wood fuel is the most common form of biomass, it is currently not easily accessible because of the fast rate of degradation of the natural forest. In Ghana, wood fuel consumption increased from about 18.4 million cubic meter in 1990 to about 33 million cubic meter in 2006, largely in response to population growth. The Energy Commission of Ghana estimates that wood fuel consumption in Ghana is twice as large as other energy sources, including electricity and petroleum and over 90% of rural households depend on wood fuel for cooking. Th e use of LPG in Ghana on the other hand accounts for only 4−6% of the residential sector’s energy needs and is only concentrated in the urban areas, mostly among the middle and higher income groups in society.

Project Team: 
Darko-Obiri, B., Obeng, E.A., Oduro, K.A., Peprah, T., Damnyag, L., Derkyi,N.S.A., Opuni-Frimpong, E., Nutakor, E. and Adjei, R.

An important product derived from forests and woodland is wood fuel, which accounts for over 85% of the total energy consumption of West African countries and provides for the energy needs of most households. e Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’ (IPCC) fourth assessment report on mitigation of climate change puts wood fuel as the only source of fuel for one third of the world’s population with this demand expected to double in the next 50 years. e IPCC report continues to estimate the world wide harvesting of wood as 60% industrial round wood and the remaining 40% as wood fuel, primarily charcoal and  firewood. Though wood fuel is the most common form of biomass, it is currently not easily accessible because of the fast rate of degradation of the natural forest. In Ghana, wood fuel consumption increased from about 18.4 million cubic meter in 1990 to about 33 million cubic meter in 2006, largely in response to population growth. The Energy Commission of Ghana estimates that wood fuel consumption in Ghana is twice as large as other energy sources, including electricity and petroleum and over 90% of rural households depend on wood fuel for cooking. Th e use of LPG in Ghana on the other hand accounts for only 4−6% of the residential sector’s energy needs and is only concentrated in the urban areas, mostly among the middle and higher income groups in society.

Project Team: 
Darko-Obiri, B., Obeng, E.A., Oduro, K.A., Peprah, T., Damnyag, L., Derkyi,N.S.A., Opuni-Frimpong, E., Nutakor, E. and Adjei, R.

An important product derived from forests and woodland is wood fuel, which accounts for over 85% of the total energy consumption of West African countries and provides for the energy needs of most households. e Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’ (IPCC) fourth assessment report on mitigation of climate change puts wood fuel as the only source of fuel for one third of the world’s population with this demand expected to double in the next 50 years. e IPCC report continues to estimate the world wide harvesting of wood as 60% industrial round wood and the remaining 40% as wood fuel, primarily charcoal and  firewood. Though wood fuel is the most common form of biomass, it is currently not easily accessible because of the fast rate of degradation of the natural forest. In Ghana, wood fuel consumption increased from about 18.4 million cubic meter in 1990 to about 33 million cubic meter in 2006, largely in response to population growth. The Energy Commission of Ghana estimates that wood fuel consumption in Ghana is twice as large as other energy sources, including electricity and petroleum and over 90% of rural households depend on wood fuel for cooking. Th e use of LPG in Ghana on the other hand accounts for only 4−6% of the residential sector’s energy needs and is only concentrated in the urban areas, mostly among the middle and higher income groups in society.

Project Team: 
Darko-Obiri, B., Obeng, E.A., Oduro, K.A., Peprah, T., Damnyag, L., Derkyi,N.S.A., Opuni-Frimpong, E., Nutakor, E. and Adjei, R.

An important product derived from forests and woodland is wood fuel, which accounts for over 85% of the total energy consumption of West African countries and provides for the energy needs of most households. e Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’ (IPCC) fourth assessment report on mitigation of climate change puts wood fuel as the only source of fuel for one third of the world’s population with this demand expected to double in the next 50 years. e IPCC report continues to estimate the world wide harvesting of wood as 60% industrial round wood and the remaining 40% as wood fuel, primarily charcoal and  firewood. Though wood fuel is the most common form of biomass, it is currently not easily accessible because of the fast rate of degradation of the natural forest. In Ghana, wood fuel consumption increased from about 18.4 million cubic meter in 1990 to about 33 million cubic meter in 2006, largely in response to population growth. The Energy Commission of Ghana estimates that wood fuel consumption in Ghana is twice as large as other energy sources, including electricity and petroleum and over 90% of rural households depend on wood fuel for cooking. Th e use of LPG in Ghana on the other hand accounts for only 4−6% of the residential sector’s energy needs and is only concentrated in the urban areas, mostly among the middle and higher income groups in society.

Project Team:
Opuni-Frimpong, E., Mensah, J., Bandoh, W., Opoku Mensah, E., Govina, J. and Ofori, E.

Background
Illegal logging and trade in illegal timber and wood products are the cause of many economic and ecological problems in both producer and consumer countries. Although instruments have been established against illegal logging and trade, at both national and regional levels, practicable control mechanisms to identify the origin of timber and wood products are lacking. Such methods of identifying types of wood and timber origins are fundamental prerequisites for e fficient import controls or corresponding origin testing by the timber industry. Existing timber tracking systems use paper-based records of timber origin at all levels of the documentation process. The tests presently used, for example in the scope of the CITES international species protection convention, meet their limits in many tropical tree species. New methods that are on the threshold of usability are DNA fingerprints and stable isotopes. The innovative character of these new methods stem from the fact that characteristics inherent to the timber are used instead of externally applied marks.

Project Team:
Opuni-Frimpong, E., Mensah, J., Bandoh, W., Opoku Mensah, E., Govina, J. and Ofori, E.

Background
Illegal logging and trade in illegal timber and wood products are the cause of many economic and ecological problems in both producer and consumer countries. Although instruments have been established against illegal logging and trade, at both national and regional levels, practicable control mechanisms to identify the origin of timber and wood products are lacking. Such methods of identifying types of wood and timber origins are fundamental prerequisites for e fficient import controls or corresponding origin testing by the timber industry. Existing timber tracking systems use paper-based records of timber origin at all levels of the documentation process. The tests presently used, for example in the scope of the CITES international species protection convention, meet their limits in many tropical tree species. New methods that are on the threshold of usability are DNA fingerprints and stable isotopes. The innovative character of these new methods stem from the fact that characteristics inherent to the timber are used instead of externally applied marks.