Efforts underway to ensure sustainable charcoal and firewood production in Ghana

Firewood and charcoal are the major source of energy in the rural areas, and to some extent, the peri-urban and urban areas as they provide 50 percent of the total domestic and industrial energy needs of the country. They are also the preferred energy source in some cottage industries and commercial activities. Since they are sourced primarily from forest resources, they constitute a major driver of forest degradation.

Firewood is the main source of fuel for preparing smoked fish, a major component of the Ghanaian diet, and the production of kenkey and gari, which are common staples, with the latter being popular amongst students due to its long shelf life, and thus provides the daily energy requirements for most Ghanaians.
However, before Ghana can develop a sustainable management mechanism for biofuel, there is the need for various state institutions such as the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources, Energy Commission, Forestry Commission, District Assemblies and other Local Authorities to collaborate effectively to ensure the prudent management and utilization of the country’s forest resources.

These statements were made by a representative of the Energy Commission at a National Charcoal Workshop to launch the project “Access and Exclusion along the Charcoal Commodity Chain in Ghana” also known as the AX project by Tropenbos International Ghana at the Yiri Lodge in Accra on April 28, 2016.

The aim of the workshop was to inform relevant stakeholders about the project and the planned research activities; to provide comments to the research plans and also explore mechanisms for improving stakeholder participation in the project by providing a platform for them to come up with workable suggestions.

It was attended by twenty (23) representatives from the Timber Industry Development Division (TIDD) and the Forest Service Division (FSD) of the Forestry Commission (FC), , the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), Traditional Authorities, Energy Commission, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources (MLNR), Institute of African Studies (IAS) Legon, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Copenhagen, the Danish Embassy in Ghana and the Kintampo Forest District.

During a presentation from the Energy Commission, it was indicated that in 2014, Ghana developed a Draft Bio-Energy Policy Strategy in line with the Renewable Energy Act, 2011, Act 832, which mandates the Energy Commission to provide for the development, management and utilization of renewable energy resources, which include wood fuels, for the production of heat and power in an efficient and environmentally sustainable manner.

An example on how the Energy Commission hopes to achieve these, is to establish woodlots in second cycle institutions (boarding secondary schools) to cater for their energy needs, develop a regulatory framework that would provide a blue print for developing improved cook stoves that use less wood fuel and promote the adoption of improved charcoal carbonisation strategies.

Presently, charcoal exports from Ghana are being regulated to ensure that they are produced through improved carbonisation technologies from sustainable feedstock such as woodlots, off-cuts and waste wood.

This new launched AX project which is being carried out in conjunction with the University of Copenhagen, the University of Ghana, and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), will examine how each set of actors along Ghana’s charcoal chain gain or maintain access to benefits and identify how means of access and exclusion shape current distribution of benefits in the sector.