Stakeholders ready to reduce conflicts associated with chainsaw milling in Ghana

Stakeholders ready to reduce conflicts associated with chainsaw milling in Ghana

Ghana - 25 July, 2013

Conflicts abound in chainsaw milling operations in Ghana which pose serious setbacks to sustainable forest management efforts in the country. Although the conflicts have received some attention, duty bearers have not sufficiently dealt with them partly due to lack of adequate conflict management skills. To address this deficiency, Tropenbos International organised a training programme on conflict management to provide the requisite skills, attitude and knowledge for properly dealing with chainsaw related conflicts.

The training which was held on June 24-28, 2013 was organised under the framework of the EU chainsaw milling project that aims at contributing to sustainable solutions to the problems associated with the production of legal lumber for the domestic markets. Key targets of this training were Forestry Commission frontline staff, participating as community forestry workers on the project, as well as chainsaw operators and managers of district-level multi-stakeholder dialogue platforms in ten forest districts.

Twenty-six (26) participants were trained in recognising forest conflict dynamics in Ghana, applying conflict management strategies as well as negotiation and communication skills for effective process facilitation. The training was facilitated by the Centre for Development Innovation of the Wageningen University. Participants pledged their commitment to work with other stakeholders to better manage chainsaw conflicts in their localities. It is hoped that the training will help reduce the level of conflicts associated with chainsaw milling in Ghana.