A ground-breaking agreement has been signed by conservation groups and an African timber producer to ensure the responsible management of primary forests in western Ghana.
WWF and Friends of the Earth are linking up with timber harvester and sawmiller Samartex, which is to seek credible forest certification on all 159,000ha of its managed forests.
The deal makes Samartex the inaugural participant of the Ghana Forest & Trade Network (GFTN), a part of WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network and the first Ghanaian timber producer to commit to pursue credible certification. It could also give the company a leadership role in certification within Ghana and elsewhere in Africa.
WWF said the addition of Samartex to the GFTN completes a supply chain of GFTN-participating companies bringing products from the forest floor to retail shelf. Sapele, iroko, idigbo and utile from Samartex is supplied to Timbmet Silverman, which in turn supplies products to companies such as Travis Perkins.
Timbmet Silverman and Travis Perkins encouraged Samartex to take part in the GFTN as a means of satisfying their commitments to procure forest products from increasingly responsible sources.
Samartex, which has average annual sales of €17m, is to implement a moratorium on logging in primary forests; develop plans to help communities which own its managed concessions; and achieve certification to Forest Stewardship Council standards by 2007.
