Story: George Ernest Asare, Achiaakrom
THE Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, Mrs Esther Obeng-Dapaah, has directed foreigners who have sited their timber processing facilities in plantation areas and forest reserves, without the requisite approval from the Forestry Commission, to remove them immediately.
She stated that siting the facilities in the forest reserves without approval contravened the existing legal provisions. The minister stressed that her ministry had directed the “Forestry Commission to ensure the full implementation of and compliance with Section Three of the Timber Resource Management (Amendment) Act 617 on the investment requirements”.
Mrs Obeng-Dapaah, who gave the directive at the annual general meeting of the Ghana Timber Association (GTA) at Achiaakrom, near Ejisu, noted that to ensure the effective monitoring of logging, processing and export of timber products in the country, the ministry was installing a log tracking or validation of legal timber scheme in the timber industry.
The meeting, which coincided with the inauguration of a 20-member National Executive Council (NEC) of the GTA, was on the theme: “Helping to Build Ghana Through Conservation of our Forest”.
The executives who were sworn into office by the sector minister included Mr Boateng Poku, President; Nana Ohene Adututu, Second Vice-President; Mr George Kennedy, Ashanti Regional Chairman; Mr Kwame Asenso Agyare, Western Regional representative; Mr Yaw Opong, Central Regional; Mr Kwame Owusu, Organiser, and Mr Kwabena Affum, Deputy Treasurer.
Ms Obeng-Dapaah said the facility was being installed by the Forestry Commission through the active support of the European Union.
She expressed concern about the rate at which the forest cover in Ghana was being depleted, stressing that before independence, the country had a total forest area of eight million hectares but it had now reduced to less than two million hectares.
She said the “dwindling state of the natural forest due to unsustainable practices, such as over-logging by illegal chainsaw operators and timber contractors, excessive mining, conversion of the natural forest to agricultural land, annual wildfires, expansion of infrastructure and changes in land uses, should be a worry to all stakeholders”.
The minister said it was, therefore, important for her ministry to institute measures that would effectively address the problem of forest degradation, stressing that with such measures, illegal logging and waste control in logging and processing would reduce significantly.
Ms Obeng-Dapaah stated that the GTA had a big role to play in complementing the ministry’s efforts at conserving the forests and the wildlife resources of the country.
She said the measures that had been instituted to address the problem of illegal mining in forest resources would also go a long way to reduce the over-exploitation of timber, thereby increasing revenue for both the government and the private sector.
Ms Obeng-Dapaah urged the participants to intensify their efforts at plantation development, explaining that “as major traders of the wood resource, the GTA and the Ghana Timber Millers Organisation (GTMO) have a collective responsibility to ensure that we restore our degraded forests to their productive functions”.
In his inaugural address, the newly-elected President of the GTA, Mr Boateng Poku, called on the government to actively resource the GTA in its quest to practise forest conservation in the country.
He stated that the GTA should be used as a conduit and be provided with access to the requisite forest resources to enable it to conserve the forest in a more practical way.
Mr Boateng said the GTA also intended to establish a task force “to check its own members against illegal activities and help stem illegal chainsaw activities which deprive the government of the requisite revenue to develop the country”.
He said as part of its contribution to conserve the forest resources of the country, the GTA had established a 300-hectare teak plantation at Bumfuom in the Asante Akyem North District, while plans were far advanced to plant an additional 700 hectares of teak and other timber species in other parts of the Ashanti Region.
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