The Political Ecology of Forest Management in Ghana: Actors, Interests and Practices in the Assin North Municipality.

Abstract

The Assin North Municipality is endowed with forest resources that are used for economic purposes. This study focused on the interests of the actors involved in the management of off-reserve forests in the municipality and how their interactions influence forest management outcomes. The study collected primary data through interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), observations and photography using 8 weeks in the field between May to July 2012. The study conducted 35 structured interviews using questionnaires; 14 unstructured interviews; two (2) semi-structured interviews; and five (5) FDGs to gather data on forest actors, interests and practices from the study area. Participants in the study included farmers, staff of the Forest Service Division of the Forestry Commission, Bush managers of logging companies, staff of the Municipal Assembly and chiefs. Through the lens of political ecology, the study revealed that actors in the municipality are enmeshed in a competitive battle for the economic benefits accruing from the commercial exploitation of forest resources (timber). Again, actors do not have equal powers in such a competitive battle. Legal and regulatory instruments in forestry have conferred much power on state institutions (such as the Forestry Commission) and logging companies by creating a conducive normative haven from which they dominate and marginalise farmers and community members in actor-interactions such as benefit sharing, permit allocation and consent, timber tree usage and compensation payments. To have their way in such interactions therefore, these weaker actors dwell on hidden discourses to craft and use weapons of resistance such as illegal logging, deliberate tree destruction and arson – practices that impede sustainable forest management in the municipality.  With this, the study concluded that failures in forest management in the municipality are inevitable outcomes of the politics of resource use and control (domination/marginalisation and resistance).

Keywords: Forest management, Political ecology, actors, interests, marginalisation, politicised environment