Ghana: Championing rights and fair compensation for forest communities

Ghana’s work to promote the legal timber trade, in partnership with the European Union (EU), strongly emphasizes involving local communities who live in or near forests. Yet many farmers and communities don’t understand their rights, which means that illegal activity by loggers has gone unchecked in Ghana’s off-reserve forests. The FAO-EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Programme supported the non-profit association Sustainable Forest Management Partnership-Ghana to increase awareness among farmers of their right to negotiate for compensation when logging damages crops on their land. The project informed farmers and local communities of their entitlements, while also helping loggers to better understand their responsibilities under the law. The project contributed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by improving local livelihoods and strengthening forest governance by increasing transparency.