The tenure system has been a major bottleneck for promoting legal small-scale and community forestry, reducing illegal logging, and limiting deforestation. “ VPA and REDD plans? And, are the VPA and REDD addressing the right issues to regulate the sector and achieve their objectives while also benefiting SMFEs? To get a better understanding of what would happen to the SMFEs with these new plans, Reem went to Ghana in early 2013 to interview various experts from stakeholder groups (government, timber trade associations, NGOs, academia), as well as a number of SMFE operators, in order to get more information on the changes in the sector and gather their opinions on its future. Results indicate that the reforms would likely have a large impact on SMFEs, some of it positive and some of it not, but that fundamental tenure reforms that would help to considerably reduce deforestation and illegalities were still lacking. The SMFE-related VPA reforms focus principally on reducing market demand for illegal wood through a government procurement policy, and legalizing the activities of some illegal chainsaw millers by training them to be “artisanal millers” using more efficient mobile mills. The fact that these new mobile mills are prohibitively expensive for most was seen as a positive thing by the government, as it would raise the bar for, and thus limit the number of, those participating in logging activities. The remainder, the government proposed, would be provided with alternative livelihoods. Needless to say there were mixed opinions on the feasibility of absorbing all those currently involved in chainsaw milling with this plan. In addition, among the drivers of illegalities that will not be addressed by these reforms is tenure: there are few plans to change a tenure system that currently provides no incentive
to farmers or communities to sustainably manage their timber trees. Without this incentive, farmers will likely continue to sell their trees and forests indiscriminately, contributing to deforestation and forest degradation, and perpetuating the informal supply chain. Meanwhile, the country’s REDD documents state, among other things, the importance of reforming tenure and promoting SMFEs. However, at the time of this research, there was little evidence that SMFEs were being engaged in the process, or that the tenure issue was being tackled. As one interviewee put it: “If you look at the VPA, this has been flagged. In REDD, it has been flagged. […] people think that tenure has to be addressed. It’s the elephant in the room, everyone talks about it. And we think that there should be some pragmatic approach to addressing it, but at the moment I don’t see that [reform] happening.” The tenure system has been a major bottleneck for promoting legal small-scale and community forestry, reducing illegal logging, and limiting deforestation, and various stakeholders have their opinions of why it has been so difficult to change. Despite broad agreement that reforms are necessary, can it happen? Reem has been working with Rights and Resources Initiative to figure out the next steps for action, including working with Ghanaian partner NGOs and timber trade associations to explore the most feasible options for tenure reform, including the possibility of setting up more community-based forest management pilot projects. These on-the-ground actors are the ones that can use this policy window to push for reforms favourable to a sustainable small-scale forestry sector, while also achieving the objectives of the VPA and REDD in Ghana. Dr Reem Hajjar is a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow working with Dr Rob Kozak at UBC and the Rights and Resources Initiative. The work described here is part of a larger project she is conducting on promoting small-scale and community forestry in both Ghana and Mexico. She can be reached at reem.hajjar@gmail.com.
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