Preliminary reports from the ongoing voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) negotiations on how to stop illegal logging and illegal timber trade between Ghana and European Union (EU) have indicated
that Ghana's forestry resources and industry were in danger of a hard fall
if changes are not made to the current rate of timber harvest in the country.
A media backgrounder to the report made available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said the current annual timber harvest in Ghana, including illegal timber, was around 3.3 million cubic metres, which was several times more than the amount the country's forests could deliver in a sustained manner.
"If changes are not made in the near future the country's forest resources, and accordingly, its forest industry, will suffer a 'hard fall'", the media backgrounder said.
The EU receives over 50 per cent of Ghana's timber exports, whiles half of total timber harvested in Ghana is consumed by the domestic market, out of which 70-80% of are from illegal sources, mainly chainsaw operators, the paper said.
It, however, noted the VPA, which was primarily intended to ensure that only legal timber was imported into Europe from Ghana, would also help to move the country to a more sustainable regime and thereby save the forest resources.
The media backgrounder noted that after several years of negotiations and wide consultations both in Ghana and in Europe, VPA negotiations were finally nearing conclusion, as the various technical working groups have recently released their recommendations on how to move forward with each issue involved.
"Additionally, a group of international consultants have conducted an impact assessment of the VPA to assess the major economic, social and environmental effects of the agreement on Ghana and released their recommendations as well," it said.