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Promising start, bleak outlook: The role of Ghana's modified taungya system as a social safeguard in timber legality processes

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  • Ros-Tonen, Mirjam A.F.
  • Insaidoo, Thomas F.G.
  • Acheampong, Emmanuel

Abstract

The Modified Taungya System (MTS) is a strategy employed by the Ghana Government to restore forest cover, address timber deficits and contribute to rural livelihoods. Under the scheme, farmers combine tree planting and maintenance with the cultivation of food crops until tree canopy closure. This paper aims to generate lessons from the MTS with respect to its role as a social safeguard against the likely adverse impacts of the implementation of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) between Ghana and the EU to combat illegal logging, using the six social safeguard dimensions identified by the IoI Project Team (2010). It addresses the question of what the major dimensions of social safeguards are and how the MTS does relate to these characteristics. Based on a survey of 146 MTS farmers and qualitative methods, results revealed that the MTS potentially meets several of the social safeguard mechanisms distinguished by the IoI Project Team (legal security for forest users, soft law enforcement by creating incentives for adaptation, benefit sharing, capacity building, alternative livelihoods/employment and expanding the resource base). The most promising of these is based on the expansion of areas with planted trees that will become available as legal timber in the future. However, the potential safeguards will only materialise if several institutional and management challenges are addressed.

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  • Ros-Tonen, Mirjam A.F. & Insaidoo, Thomas F.G. & Acheampong, Emmanuel, 2013. "Promising start, bleak outlook: The role of Ghana's modified taungya system as a social safeguard in timber legality processes," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 57-67.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:32:y:2013:i:c:p:57-67
    DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2012.11.011
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dominic Blay & Mark Appiah & Lawrence Damnyag & Francis Dwomoh & Olavi Luukkanen & Ari Pappinen, 2008. "Involving local farmers in rehabilitation of degraded tropical forests: some lessons from Ghana," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 503-518, August.
    2. Derkyi, Mercy & Ros-Tonen, Mirjam A.F. & Kyereh, Boateng & Dietz, Ton, 2013. "Emerging forest regimes and livelihoods in the Tano Offin Forest Reserve, Ghana: Implications for social safeguards," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 49-56.
    3. Chamberlin, Jordan, 2007. "Defining smallholder agriculture in Ghana: Who are smallholders, what do they do and how are they linked with markets?," GSSP working papers 6, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Wiersum, K. Freerk & Elands, Birgit H.M., 2013. "Opinions on legality principles considered in the FLEGT/VPA policy in Ghana and Indonesia," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 14-22.
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    Cited by:

    1. Arhin, Albert Abraham, 2014. "Safeguards and Dangerguards: A Framework for Unpacking the Black Box of Safeguards for REDD+," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 24-31.
    2. Osei-Tutu, Paul & Pregernig, Michael & Pokorny, Benno, 2015. "Interactions between formal and informal institutions in community, private and state forest contexts in Ghana," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 26-35.
    3. Tegegne, Yitagesu T. & Ramcilovic-Suominen, Sabaheta & FOBISSIE, KALAME & Visseren-Hamakers, Ingrid J. & Lindner, Marcus & Kanninen, Markku, 2017. "Synergies among social safeguards in FLEGT and REDD+ in Cameroon," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 1-11.
    4. Kumeh, Eric Mensah & Kyereh, Boateng & Birkenberg, Athena & Birner, Regina, 2021. "Customary power, farmer strategies and the dynamics of access to protected forestlands for farming: Implications for Ghana's forest bioeconomy," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    5. Derkyi, Mercy & Ros-Tonen, Mirjam A.F. & Kyereh, Boateng & Dietz, Ton, 2013. "Emerging forest regimes and livelihoods in the Tano Offin Forest Reserve, Ghana: Implications for social safeguards," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 49-56.
    6. Johnson Gaither, Cassandra & Yembilah, Rita & Samar, Sparkler Brefo, 2019. "Tree registration to counter elite capture of forestry benefits in Ghana’s Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 340-349.

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