Forest Watch Ghana has joined a legal wrangle between the country’s Forestry Commission and the Ghana Timber Association (GTA).
The dispute centres on the commission’s claim that the timber industry owes it about 30bn cedis in stumpage fees. GTA argues the stumpage rate process is unlawful and the calculation method is inaccurate and unfair.
Forest Watch Ghana, which has entered the legal action “in the public interest”, believes the amount owed in unpaid stumpage fees is far higher, with chiefs and district assemblies alone owed an estimated 40-60bn cedis.
The watchdog claims the industry is trying to torpedo government efforts aimed at reducing logging to more sustainable levels and making loggers pay the full value of trees.
