FOREST GOVERNANCE

Forest governance can be defined as the whole of public and private interactions which design, implement and oversee policies, laws and regulations relating to the allocation, use and trade of forest resources. This process includes a lot of actors from statutory and customary government, the private sector and civil society, which are operating at different levels of scale. It is also referred to as interactive governance.

There are different styles or modes of governance, with the most important ones in

Ghana being:

·         Hierarchical governance – a top-down style of interaction between the State and its citizens. The key concepts involved are steering, planning and control, as expressed in laws and policies. This mode, a legacy of British colonial rule, is widespread, with the Forestry Commission (FC) being the main responsible agency for forest management.

·         Co-governance – a collaborative way of governing in which responsibilities are shared between the State and societal parties with a common purpose in mind. It is characterized by horizontal relationships, with no actor being solely in control.

Eventhough the Forestry Commission (FC) of Ghana used to be more inclined towards Hierarchical governance, Several co-governance arrangements are found in the 1994 Forest and Wildlife Policy and its legislative instruments, especially the provisions and guiding principles relating to community forestry, collaborative resource management and participatory forest management. A noticeable example was the setting up of the Community Biodiversity Advisory Groups (CBAGs) by FC to support the management of the Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas (GSBAs) in the country.