Opinions Regarding FLEGT/VPA in Ghana: a Survey of Stakeholders’ Opinion
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Opinions regarding FLEGT/VPA in Ghana: A survey of stakeholders’ opinion Master Thesis FNP 80436 GLORIA OFORIWAA AUGUST 2011 Supervisor: Dr. K. Freerk Wiersum Opinions regarding FLEGT/VPA in Ghana: A survey of stakeholders’ opinion Student: Gloria Oforiwaa Reg. No: 791113617060 Supervisor: Dr. K. Freerk Wiersum Examinator: Prof. Dr. Bas Arts Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group Wageningen University and Research Centre The Netherlands Thesis Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of master at Wageningen University August, 2011 ii Acknowledgement My exceptional gratitude goes to the Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NUFFIC) for sponsoring my masters’ degree program (MFN- Forest and Nature Conservation) in Wageningen University. I am grateful to the Forest and Nature Conservation- Policy (FNP) chair group for presenting me with an interesting project and also the programme Illegal or Incompatible (IoI) for sponsoring my data collection. The production of quality research requires painstaking supervision and my utmost gratitude goes to my Supervisor, Dr Freerk Wiersum (Forest and Nature Conservation- Policy group) for his quality supervision during my research work. Since the research was undertaken within the framework of Illegal or Incompatible (IoI) Research and involved a comparative analysis on Ghana and Indonesia, I will also like to express my gratitude to my colleague, Mr Dody Hernawan from Indonesia whom I worked with in completing the first three chapters of the research proposal. The Nature of my research required immense contribution of a lot of people from the Forestry Commission, Research Institutions, Tropenbos International, Ministries and Private sector, I am extremely grateful to respondents from these sectors. Due to the Nature of the research, I also had to contact directors and coordinators of both government and Non-governmental organizations. My extreme gratitude goes to Mr. Fredua Agyeman (Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning), Mr. kyeretwie Opoku (Civic Response), Dr. Wale Adeleke (IUCN, Ghana), Mr. Attah Allasah (Forestry Commission, Ghana), Nana Kofi Adu Nsiah (Forestry Commission, Ghana), Mr. Elijah Yaw Danso (Netherlands Embassy), Mr. Chris Beeko (VPA Secretariat), Hon. A. Adjei-Yeboah (Member of Parliament, Ghana) and Dr E.A Abeney (Working Group on Forest Certification). I am also grateful to other staff at the FC and lecturers of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), who made time to answer my questionnaire. In regard to my field work in Ghana, I had the opportunity of working from the office of Tropenbos International (Ghana Office) and with the staff. My extreme gratitude goes to Mr Sam K. Nketiah the programme director for his assistance in providing me an office to work peacefully in. I will also not forget to express my profound gratitude to other workers of TBI Ghana for their support; Mr Bossman Owusu, Mrs Olivia Ansu Amponsah, and also Rachael, Evelyn, Orbed and those that I am not able to mention. iii My immense gratitude goes to my family; Mr. Edward Owusu, Mr. And Mrs. Osei, Shirley Osei and Juliet Osei for their constant support when I was in Wageningen and upon going back home (Ghana) for my data collection. I am grateful to the Wageningen Municipality for the congenial atmosphere in Wageningen with different nationals making life interesting. My wonderful Christian family ICF and Chaplaincy, for providing me with a sound atmosphere to fellowship every Sunday, I accord you great gratitude. My heartfelt appreciation goes to the Ghanaian family on Wageningen campus, Mr and Mrs Hoek, and my cousin Amanda Gyemfua (Amsterdam) for their diverse contribution to my successful stay in the Netherlands. Finally, my profound gratitude goes to the almighty God for his love, guidance and protection throughout my stay in Wageningen and this achievement that I have made. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................vii LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................................. viii SUMMARY .........................................................................................................................................xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 2 1. 1 General context ...................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 EU-FLEGT Action plan ............................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Ghana’s road map to FLEGT VPA .............................................................................................. 6 1.4 Problem Statement .................................................................................................................. 9 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .................................................................................... 12 2.1 Policy regime ......................................................................................................................... 12 2.2 Discourses ............................................................................................................................. 14 2.3 Dimensions of timber legality................................................................................................. 18 2.3.1 Type of timber legality .................................................................................................... 19 2.3.2 Type of timber market .................................................................................................... 22 2.3.3 Law Enforcement approaches ......................................................................................... 23 2.3.4 Social Safeguards ............................................................................................................ 24 2.4 Conceptual Framework .......................................................................................................... 27 2.6 Research Objectives and Questions........................................................................................ 28 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................... 29 3.1 Research Design..................................................................................................................... 30 3.2 Study area ............................................................................................................................. 30 3.3 Selection of Respondents ....................................................................................................... 30 3.4 Data collection ....................................................................................................................... 32 3.5 Data Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS ................................................................................................................... 36 4.1 Respondents Profile ............................................................................................................... 36 4.2 Opinions regarding characteristics of FLEGT/VPA process in Ghana ........................................ 39 v 4.2.1 Market Orientation ......................................................................................................... 39 4.2.2 Legal Norms .................................................................................................................... 40 4.2.3 Law enforcement ............................................................................................................ 41 4.2.4 Social Safeguards ............................................................................................................ 42 4.2.5 Differences in opinions between stakeholders ................................................................ 43 4.3 Opinions regarding the further development of FLEGT/VPA into a programme of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) .......................................................................................................... 44 4.3.1 Market Orientation ......................................................................................................... 44 4.3.2 Legal Norms .................................................................................................................... 45 4.3.3 Law Enforcement ............................................................................................................ 46 4.3.4 Social Safeguard .............................................................................................................. 47 4.3.5 Differences in opinions between stakeholders ................................................................ 47 4.4 Comparison of opinions between timber legality norm and sustainable forest management norm ........................................................................................................................................... 48 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSIONS ................................................................................................................ 52 5.1 Empirical relevance ...............................................................................................................