DOMESTIC TIMBER MARKET AND ILLEGAL LOGGING: THE CASE OF SELECTED LUMBER MARKETS IN ACCRA, GHANA

Illegal logging has gained prominence at both local and international forestry discussions globally over the past decade. This paper analyses four main lumber markets in the capital city of Ghana based on the monitoring of vehicles conveying lumber to market sites. Trading of the lumber are mainly for domestic consumption. Nonetheless, a fraction of the product is exported to nearby countries. Bearing in mind markets together with sales which is not covered by the study and permitting inter-market exchanges, this paper estimates the annual sale of domestic and export consumption to be in the order of 0.5 million m(3). In addition to formal export sale of 0.5 million m(3), the total annual sale of wood is approximately 1 million m(3) which is equivalent to about 3.2 million m(3) of raw wood. This is in excess of the yearly allowable cut. This paper therefore, confirms that constant monitoring of vehicles transporting wood is a reliable and feasible technique for estimating the domestic market size which could uncover further applications. The effectiveness of the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) initiative is therefore questioned by the larger formal sector and therefore there is an urgent need for reinforcements and policy reforms.