Download Travel Report: Deforestation, Rural livelihoods and possible forest

Field report
Tetteh Herbert University of Bergen, Norway.
Deforestation, Rural Livelihoods and possible forest management in Ghana:
the case of Tontro in the East Akim District
Forest management should not be at our expense: we must survive…we must eat (Source:
Fieldwork, 2014).
As can be seen from the extract above, forests play fundamental roles in supporting
livelihoods in Ghana. They form an integral part of the economy, providing subsistence goods
and services as well as items of trade. Therefore to manage the forest to benefit all, the
government of Ghana during and after colonial times with aid from the international
community, put in place many protective measures and policies in relation to forest
management.
These forest management policies coupled with issues of regulations has excluded many
groups from benefitting from the forest directly. An instance of such regulation is the Timber
Resource Management act which outlaws illegal harvesting and chainsaw lumbering (Ghana
Forest Commission, 1999). Local forest users that have been excluded include the forest
farmers and chainsaw operators. Their activities have now been labelled as ‘illegal’.
Initially I decided to look at the types of activities done in the forests and its effect on the
livelihoods of the local forest users. It became difficult for me to get data since many of the
informants taught I was a spy from the Ghana forestry commission. I therefore rephrased my
research focus to the mechanisms and processes that local forest users use to gain access to
the forest even though the forests are protected.
My study then focuses on the people who are kept out, and the mechanisms they are
activating to maneuver continued access to the forest and the effect on their livelihoods. I
travelled to Ghana in Africa.
Objective
The objective of the project is to look at the processes and mechanisms that local forest users
(that is forest farmers and chainsaw operators) are activating to get access to the forests and
its impacts on their livelihoods
Preliminary findings
I categorized the means that local people use to gain access to the forest into the formal and
informal means.
Formal means
The Formal means of access occurs when permit is obtained from the forest commission to
be able to access the forest. Only a few of the informants interviewed said they have used
permits to get access to the forest before.
Informal means
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A myriad of informal contacts between the different actors at the local level determines who
can have access to the forest. These informal means includes the following
Firstly, issues of reciprocity appears to be a way that local forest user use to get access to the
forest. Issues of reciprocity are the screens that occupy vision whenever the local people and
the forestry officials meet. They help each other: the local forest users help the forest guards
to locate and clear the ‘beats’ and the forest guards in return are to give a piece of land inside
the forest to farm (‘Beats’ are the boundaries between the forest reserves and the local lands
of the natives)
Also further interviews revealed that social relations appear to be one of the informal ways
that the local people use to get access to the forest. Local people build social relations based
on trust and friendship with the forest officials in other to get access to the forest. Social
relations based on ethnic and religious affiliations were also an informal way that local people
us to get access to the forest.
Further interview with informants shows that, they negotiate forest access through the
exchange of gifts and payment of money with the forest guards. Payments in the form of
money and gifts in the form of foodstuffs were the mechanisms used to gain access to the
forests by the local forest users.
One of the personal observations I made during the fieldwork was that most of the illegal
chainsaw operations occurs at dawn or in the night. Further interviews with the chainsaw
operators revealed that these were periods that the forest guards had closed from work. And
also these were periods when they can have access to the forest to undertake their activities
without the forest guards on their trail. Working at night and at dawn seems to be one of the
informal ways that local people use to get access to the forest.
Lastly identity discourses of nation and citizenship appears to be way that local forest users
use to get access to the forest. The category ‘We are all Ghanaians’ was very much in use
during most of my interviews. The local people then have in mind that they have access to all
things in Ghana including the forests. They therefore activate this identity forms to gain
access to the forests.
Impacts of forest access on rural livelihoods and forests
The forests play a very vital role in the livelihoods of the local people. The local people
depend on their food crops from the forests for food and also for income. The mechanisms of
access that the local forest users are maneuvering to access the forest is leading to a lot of
forest lost.
Being in the field was an eye-opener. It was very interesting to observe how local forest users
use subtle forms of power such as persuasions and negotiations to get access to the forest and
how they resort to force when persuasion and negotiations fail. I stayed in my study area for
the entire period and this increased trust towards me. This then enhanced my data collection
process. I accept that my report be published. Attached are photos from the fieldwork. I am
grateful to the institute for their financial support.
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