West African Forest Strategy 2

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West African Forest Strategy 2 TToowwaarrdd aa WWeesstt AAffrriiccaann FFoorreessttss SSttrraatteeggyy Working draft April 2011 A West African Forest Strategy 2 Acknowledgements This paper was prepared by LTS International and ONF International with support from the World Bank Africa team. The work was funded by the Program on Forests (PROFOR), a multi-donor partnership managed by a core team at the World Bank. PROFOR finances forest-related analysis and processes that support the following goals: improving people‟s livelihoods through better management of forests and trees; enhancing forest law enforcement and governance; financing sustainable forest management; and coordinating forest policy across sectors. In 2011, PROFOR‟s donors included the European Commission, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the World Bank. Learn more at www.profor.info. Disclaimer All omissions and inaccuracies in this document are the responsibility of the authors. The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the institutions involved, nor do they necessarily represent official policies of PROFOR or the World Bank. A West African Forest Strategy 3 Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... 5 PART A: THE FOREST CONTEXT IN WEST AFRICA .............................................................. 8 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 8 2. Background: the five countries in comparative perspective.............................................. 9 2.1: Forest cover & classification ......................................................................................13 2.2 : Drivers of deforestation ..............................................................................................16 2.3: Forests and poverty in the HFZ ..................................................................................19 2.4 Elements of the Strategy ..............................................................................................25 3. Pillar One: Forests in Sustainable Economic Development ...............................................26 3.1 Forest industry structure and the issue of price distortions ...........................................26 3.2 Forest governance ......................................................................................................35 3.3 Sustaining the timber supply ........................................................................................40 4. Pillar Two: Livelihoods and poverty alleviation ...................................................................48 4.1 Community forestry ......................................................................................................48 4.2 Agroforestry .................................................................................................................52 4.3 Rural energy: fuel wood and charcoal ..........................................................................56 4.4 Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) ............................................................................57 4.5 Biofuels ........................................................................................................................58 5. Pillar Three: Public Goods .................................................................................................61 5.1 Forests and the conservation of biodiversity.................................................................61 5.2 Payments for Environmental Services, including REDD ...............................................62 PART B: TOWARD AN EFFECTIVE FORESTS STRATEGY ...................................................64 6. National and International Policies ..................................................................................64 6.1 National interests and positions....................................................................................64 6.2 Donor initiatives ...........................................................................................................73 7. Strategy Options .............................................................................................................76 7.1 Country-level Actions ...................................................................................................76 7.2 Sub-regional Level Actions ...........................................................................................85 8. Conclusion .....................................................................................................................89 9. Selected Bibliography .....................................................................................................93 A West African Forest Strategy 4 Annex 1: International agreements / organizations of the selected countries .........................97 Annex 2: Organization of forest administration in the five countries .....................................98 Tables Table 1: Summary Forest Data for the selected countries .........................................................11 Table 2: Main drivers of deforestation and forest degradation ..................................................18 Table 3: Incidence of Rural and Urban Poverty in the Five Countries .......................................19 Table 4: Law Enforcement in the Forest Marketing Chain .........................................................36 Table 5: Future resource availability prospects for Ghana .........................................................41 Table 6: Comparison of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers ...................................................67 Table 7: Main recommendations made during the stakeholders meetings ...............................68 Table 8: Summary of Potential Themes for Sub-regional Strategy ............................................75 Table 9: Comparative Export Statistics for Selected Timber & Wood Products .........................85 Table 10: Main foci of key initiatives in sub-region ....................................................................90 Figures Figure 1: Ecosystem Areas by type ..........................................................................................15 Figure 2: Trend in area of HFZ, Côte d‟Ivoire, 1880 to 2008 (in ha.) ..........................................16 Figure 3: Poverty Maps ~ Incidences of poverty in relation to forest areas ...............................20 Figure 4: Industrial and Fuel Wood Removal for the 5 countries, 1995-2005 ...........................28 Figure 5: Exports of timber, Côte d‟Ivoire, Ghana & Liberia .......................................................29 Figure 6: Combined Exports of Timber Products from Cote d‟Ivoire, Ghana & Liberia ..............30 Figure 7: Côte D‟Ivoire: Trends in Wood Production and Processing (m3), 2004-9 ....................30 Figure 8: West Africa ~ Main Cross-border Timber Flows ........................................................31 Figure 9: Distribution of Liberia‟ Concessions by percentage of Total Area ...............................39 Figure 10: Total volumes of annual legal timber harvest and sources .......................................42 Figure 11: Market distribution of 2000 timber harvest in Liberia ...............................................77 Boxes Box 1: Primary Timber Processing in Ghana: A Value-Subtracting Industry .............................32 Box 2: Comparison of potential informal & formal sector turnover in Ghana (2007, US $) .........35 Box 3: Revenue sharing arrangements under the 2006 Liberia Forest Law .............................44 Box 4: Tree tenure and timber revenues in Ghana ....................................................................44 Box 5: The LAMIL project in Guinea ..........................................................................................51 Box 6: Cocoa production in Ghana and implications for forest conservation .............................53 Box 7: Agroforestry in Guinea ...................................................................................................55 Box 8: Priority Issues identified in the Stakeholder consultants .................................................71 Box 9: Community Forestry in Liberia ......................................................................................80 Box 10: Proposed benefit sharing from land lease and forest payments, Sierra Leone .............82 A West African Forest Strategy 5 Executive Summary This report presents analysis geared toward developing a forests strategy in West Africa. It draws on five country studies focused on Côte d‟Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea (Conakry), Liberia and Sierra Leone and a sector synthesis. The report is structured in two parts: the first part (Part A, Sections 1-5) presents some key themes in forest policy in the sub-region. The second part (Part B, Sections 6-8) presents elements for an effective development assistance strategy for forests in the West Africa sub-region. The five countries of the sub-region differ in a number of important respects with regard to their forested areas, though they also show some similarities. In the three more easterly countries (Côte d‟Ivoire, Ghana and Liberia) the timber industry has historically been much more important than in the other two. In all five cases, rural energy is an important aspect of the forest economy and depends largely on
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