Illegal Logging and Related Trade: Indicators of the Global Response

Results from Ghana

Sam LawsonChatham House Associate Fellow

2

Measuring the Response: Methodology

Heading Indicators / Information Sources

Awareness / Attention media (qual/quant)

Government policies, enf data, survey

Private sector certif/verif, survey

Levels of illegal logging & trade

wood balance, survey, trade data discs

import-source analysis

5 producers: Brazil, Cameroon, Ghana, Indonesia, Malaysia (40%) 5 consumers: UK, US, France, Japan, Netherlands 2 processors: Vietnam, China (cons+proc= 50%)

Development and roll-out of methodology 2006-2009 Methodology and results reviewed by independent experts

Methodology List of 48 ‘ideal’ policies/laws/regs needed for good governance Summarised into 12 major headings EG – Heading: Transparency- Q: Do policies, laws or regulations

stipulate that information on location of concessions, ownership and contact details is publicly available?

Each policy scored on existence, design and implementation Justification for scores given Initial assessment by local consultant (Gene Birikorang) Review by Chatham House and independent reviewers

Government ResponsePOLICIES

Ghana Results (as of Sept 2009)

Overall – still quite bad

Good news: Parliamentary oversight of forest

agencies good; Tenure and use rights

arrangements better than other countries

Resource allocation procedures also good

High-level policyLegislative frameworkChecks & balancesInternational trade cooperation*Supply and demandTenure and use rights*Timber chain of custodyTransparency Resource allocation*Law enforcementInformation managementFinancial management*due to nature of scoring method, result for intl coop gives a more negative impression than it should, and those for tenure and resource allocation more positive impressions than they should

Policy Assessment Results (green=relatively good - red=poor)

Government Response – Ghana ResultsPOLICIES

Ghana Results

Bad news Worst scores of five producer

countries in relation to information management and the use of best practice in law enforcement

Incoherence and ambiguity still exist in the legislative framework

Resource allocation procedures regularly sidelined

Transparency & CoC poor

BUT – many improvements under way under VPA process

High-level policyLegislative frameworkChecks & balancesInternational trade cooperation*Supply and demandTenure and use rights*Timber chain of custodyTransparency Resource allocation*Law enforcementInformation managementFinancial management*due to nature of scoring method, result for intl coop gives a more negative impression than it should, and those for tenure and resource allocation more positive impressions than they should

Policy Assessment Results (green=relatively good - red=poor)

Government Response – Ghana ResultsPOLICIES

Most useful data are not collected at central level or published Study had to visit regional offices in person for data Data for 2006-2008 show increased seizures (up 25%) and

increased fines (up 60%) Mostly due to increased small-scale seizures of chainsaw lumber

CAUSE – not clear if increased enforcement or increased illegality

Collection rate for fines is very good (94%) BUT – fines are very low (5-7% of value of timber seized) – not

kept up to date with inflation – not proportionate or dissuasive

Government ResponseENFORCEMENT DATA

Numbers of IL cases brought to court also up (up 160%) BUT – backlog building up – courts cannot keep up Causes – lack of capacity in judicial system

- low capacity of FD to argue cases

- lack of clarity in rules and regulations Consequence – FD falling back on compounding procedures =>

low fines

Government ResponseENFORCEMENT DATA

Illegal Logging Cases in Ghanian Courts, 2006-2008

0

20

40

60

80

100

2006 2007 2008

Nu

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f ca

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Prosecuted

Initiated

Relatively poor view of government response compared with other producer countries

Less perception of improvement in government response also Significant numbers of respondents felt political will and

enforcement effectiveness were getting worse

Government ResponseEXPERT SURVEY (Sept 2009)

Private sector response

9

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

2006 2009 2006 2009 2006 2009 2006 2009 2006 2009

Per

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f T

ota

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rea

of

Lic

ence

d L

og

gin

g

Verified Legal Origin

Verified Legally Compliant

Certified Legal & Sustainable

Brazil Cameroon Ghana Indonesia Malaysia

Producer countries: voluntary certif/verif • No timber production in Ghana

is yet independently verified as legal or sustainable, whereas the proportion in the other producer countries is already considerable and growing rapidly

• Little take up of other schemes eg TTAP, WWF FTN

• One concession (Samartex) has FSC Controlled Wood certification, but its FTN membership is currently suspended

Private sector response

• The proportion of Ghana’s wood exports destined for ‘sensitive’ markets has been declining rapidly since 2001

• Most exports now destined for unsensitive markets (eg ply to Nigeria)

• May be linked to exhaustion of species preferred by sensitive mkts

• This may be one reason for the poor private-sector response

Percentage of Ghana wood exports destined for 'sensitive' markets (RWE Volume basis)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

20

00

20

01

20

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03

20

04

20

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07

20

08

Methodology• Wood balance – extent to which total timber demand (domestic

use + exports) exceeds legal supply (legal production + imports)• Expert survey – questions on scale & nature of IL, and how it has

changed over time

Results• Wood balance (2006) = 65% of logging illegal• Expert survey (2009) = 59% of logging illegal• Large reductions in IL over last ten yrs in Indonesia, Cameroon

and Brazil• NO evidence of large-scale reduction in Ghana – though some

evidence from expert survey of slight improvements recently• Only a quarter of illegal timber production is from the formal

sector – the bulk of the problem relates to artisanal ‘chainsaw’ logging

Levels of illegal logging

Government Response• Significant improvements already underway, but more action

needed• E.G. Ghana needs to improve best practice in enforcement: - higher penalties must be applied in practice - coordination between relevant agencies improved - greater use made of technologies and methodologies to detect

illegal logging and timber smuggling• Action needed to speed up the processing of illegal logging cases

through courts• Better information management and timber tracking systems

needed• Resource allocation procedures properly implemented and not

bypassed• Better control of licensed milling capacity so that it does not

exceed legal supply

Conclusions / Recommendations

Other• Domestic demand exceeds annual allowable cut – need to

address how domestic demand can be met while continuing exports

• Need to reverse decline in exports to more sensitive markets like the EU – crucial for value of VPA licensing system

• Address factors holding back voluntary private sector response (eg certification)

Conclusions / Recommendations

Thank you

More Information: - Chatham House report, briefing document, country report cards

at www.illegal-logging.info (under ‘Indicators of Progress’) - My email: slawson chathamhouse.org.uk