Ghana Forestry Commission :: Timber Industry Development Division

This website has been prepared by the Timber Industry Development Division (TIDD) of the Ghana Forestry Commission, and is about Ghana's forests and timber sector - a major employer and provider.

Ghana, in West Africa, is a land of savannah and forest. It is roughly the same size as the UK but with only one third as many people. It depends strongly on its exports of minerals, cocoa and timber, and is pioneering ecotourism based on its forests and wildlife. Other countries in the huge continent of Africa face civil disorder and famine, but Ghana is stable and secure. Ghanaians live simply with sustenance based to a large extent on rural activities.

The natural forest zone, which covers about 30% of the land area, has always been important to Ghanaians supplying them with foodstuffs, meat, fuelwood, charcoal, raw materials for household goods and village contruction as well as timber.

Increases in population and the need to earn money from exports has put presure on Ghana's forests which are limited in extent. More and more over the years Ghana has worked to evolve sustainable use of forests so that they go on providing economic, social and environmental benefits.

This website explains what is being done to ensure a future for forests, forest based wildlife and the ways in which the Ghana Forestry Commission is working with industry and communities to these ends. It focuses particularly on the ways in which Ghana's timber export sector is having to evolve sustainable, responsible logging practices, adjust to the imposition of a finite upper limit for the volume of logs harvested annually, and make more use of the wood which is harvested, expecially in developing more processing and output in added value machined and shaped timber, components and finished products.

The website tells you more about the individual species of hardwood which Ghana produces and their ends uses, and seeks to encourage more technical collaboration and investment from its overseas markets.
^ top