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
mb
er o
f ca
ses
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
cen
tag
e o
f T
ota
l A
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
02
20
03
20
04
20
05
20
06
20
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