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A nine-member National Timber Monitoring Team was inaugurated in Accra yesterday with a mandate to work to contain illegal logging to sustain the country’s forest resources.
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, consequently warned that there would be drastic enforcement action against any encroachment on the country’s forest landscape.
Mr Buah said, given the critical ecosystem services provided by forests for human existence and the sustenance of the environment, the government would not countenance any destructive activities that would compromise the integrity of that resource.
“I am sending a strong notice to those who want to make money through illegal logging that there will no longer be any space for them to operate. We will not allow illegal chainsaw operators and other criminal elements to continue to explore the weaknesses in our laws and systems to deplete our forests,” he stressed.
The monitoring team, whose members are drawn from security and regulatory agencies, including the Ghana Police Service, National Security, the Ghana Armed Forces, Forestry Commission, and the Ghana Timber Trade and Industry Association (GTTIA), is expected to play a coordinating role in implementing a raft of measures to clamp down on the activities of illegal loggers.
Under the directorship of Alhaji Mohammed Kwaku Doku, the team would work with other stakeholders to facilitate the reduction of chainsaw operations, logging and encroachment on forest reserves.
Mr Buah explained that the timber monitoring team would discharge their responsibilities through intelligence-led operations, fact-gathering, and enhanced monitoring. He urged members of the team to see their appointment as a call to national duty rather than an opportunity to perpetrate the crime they were required to help combat.
“The people of Ghana are counting on you to help save the country’s forest resources from destruction. Do not go and join the criminal elements to perpetrate the illegality; go and make your appointment count,” he stressed.
The minister called on all stakeholders, including the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs), traditional rulers and civil society organisations (CSOs), to support the government’s effort to eliminate excesses in the timber industry and protect the forest landscape.
The Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, Dr Hugh Brown, described the inauguration of the timber monitoring team as a major step towards protecting the forests from destruction by illegal loggers.
He said the initiative was timely because the team’s activities would augment efforts already being made by the Forestry Commission to sustainably manage the country’s forest resources, particularly timber.
Dr Brown said the current state of affairs in terms of illegal logging was serious and almost insurmountable if targeted action was not deployed to tackle the crime.
“We have got to the stage where the challenges are almost insurmountable.
We have a situation where forest guards and officers cannot go out without being well armed. Forest officers are sometimes kidnapped in the line of duty, and it is worrying,” he said.
For his part, Alhaji Doku said the members of the monitoring team were aware of the task ahead and would take the needed steps to deliver on their mandate.
He said the diverse backgrounds of the team gave him hope that through diligence and support from other stakeholders, there would be sanity in the timber sector.
Historically, Ghana's forests have faced immense pressure from agricultural expansion, mining, and timber extraction, with illegal activities exacerbating these challenges.
