Ghana has entered into a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the European Commission (EC) to export only legal timber products to Europe. Article 17 of the agreement recognizes possible adverse impacts that VPA implementation can have on actors whose livelihoods depend on forests. To minimize the potential impacts, Ghana and the EC have agreed “to develop a better understanding of the livelihoods of potentially affected local communities as well as the timber industry, including those engaged in illegal logging”. This proviso shall require research interventions.

This infosheet identifies some issues that need to be investigated into by the research community, to provide better insight for policy, in managing the consequences of timber legality standards on local livelihoods.