Project description

Title: Forest Protection and Resource Use Management in the Volta Region
Commissioned by: Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ)
Country: Ghana
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines
Overall term: March 1993 to February 2008

Context

As early as the 1930s, about 73,000 hectares in the Volta region were designated as protected forest areas, with the aim of safeguarding water catchment areas. That is about 50 percent of the entire forested land of the region.

However, forest fires, legal and illegal logging, and the constant expansion of agricultural land as a result of population growth have destroyed large expanses of forest. The forests are used to meet local demand for construction timber, fuelwood and sawnwood. Firewood and charcoal, for example, supply about 80 percent of the region’s energy needs.

Objective

The local population, other forest users and the forest administration service engage in economically and ecologically sustainable use of the forest resources in the Volta region.

Approach

The activities aim to promote collaborative forest management in the protected forest areas. The forest stands will achieve long-term stability and will increase so that it will be possible, for example, to satisfy the growing demand for renewable fuel. The income generated by use of the forest resources will be transparently distributed in line with relevant legislation.

The legal conditions – with regard to land ownership, for example – are being clarified, improved and made transparent, with the aim of preventing the kind of conflicts among forest users that were a frequent occurrence in the past. Information campaigns and training schemes covering areas such as forest and land law, fire prevention, plant breeding and silvicultural work are being carried out with the objective of preserving the forest resources within and beyond the protected areas. Another aim is to increase agricultural productivity.

The project is being implemented in cooperation with the KfW Entwicklungsbank and the German Development Service (DED).

Results achieved so far

At present 38 communities are actively involved in the complex process of forest management in the protected forest areas, with the aim of restoring 6400 hectares of forest land.

The project’s woodlot campaign is making an important contribution to covering the increasing energy demand: it subsidises schemes to establish small plantations for fuelwood production. Over 4,500 hectares of small plantations of this kind have already been established and are being harvested.