WWF and Partners Making Markets Work for Forests and People in Ghana (May 2005)
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Ghana FTN Coordinator Abraham Baffoe of Friends of the
Earth appraises the forestry operations of an applicant
company. |
In a groundbreaking achievement for forest conservation in West Africa, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Friends of the Earth signed an agreement with Samartex Timber and Plywood Co. Ltd. that will help ensure the responsible management of primary forests and valuable wildlife habitat under Samartex management in the western region of Ghana. Samartex — a vertically-integrated company with timber harvesting and sawmill operations — will implement programs to verify environmental and social performance across its operations by seeking credible forest certification on all of the 159,000 ha. (392,730 acres) of reserves under its management.
“Samartex believes that sustainable forest management is an integral element of effective forest conservation,” said Kurt Dirtz, Managing Director for Samartex. “By working with WWF and Friends of the Earth we intend to help conserve healthy forests, while providing benefits to local communities and valuable products to our customers.”
Samartex is one of the leading forest product companies in Ghana with average annual sales of approximately 17 million euro (22,236,700 USD) and a product range that includes sliced and rotary veneer, sawn timber, boules, mouldings, and plywood. The company operates a nationally recognized apprentice training scheme as well as health and safety workshops for its 2,500 employees.
The agreement makes Samartex the inaugural participant of the Ghana Forest & Trade Network, a part of WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN), and the first producer in Ghana to commit to pursue credible certification. Since Samartex became the first official participant in the GFTN, a number of other companies have applied to join.
The GFTN is WWF’s initiative to eliminate illegal logging and improve the management of valuable and threatened forests. By facilitating trade links between companies committed to achieving and supporting responsible forestry, the GFTN creates market conditions that help conserve the world’s forests while providing economic and social benefits for the businesses and people that depend on them. This work is supported by USAID through the Sustainable Forest Products Global Alliance (SFPGA), a public/private partnership that seeks to make markets work for forests and people. The SFPGA partnership is one of USAID’s Global Development Alliances.
The addition of Samartex to the GFTN completes a supply chain of GFTN-participating companies that brings forest products from the forest floor to the retail shelf. Samartex provides Sapele, Iroko, Idigbo and Utile, among other species, to Timbmet Silverman, which in turn supplies products to Travis Perkins. Timbmet and Travis Perkins — both members of the UK Forest & Trade Network of the GFTN — encouraged Samartex to participate in the GFTN as a means of satisfying their commitments to procure forest products from increasingly responsible sources.
“Our responsible purchasing policies require that our suppliers provide us with forest products guaranteed to have originated in environmentally well-managed forests,” said Mike Packer, Group Environmental Manager for Timbmet Silverman. “Producers like Samartex that are committed to supplying legal and certified well-managed timber and participate in WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network provide an off-the-shelf solution to our immediate sourcing needs. Timbmet will continue to actively implement its responsible purchasing policy and in so doing stimulate the supply of timber from legal and FSC-certified sources.”
With support from the Ghana Forest & Trade Network, Samartex will implement a moratorium on logging in primary forests; develop plans for providing benefits to the communities that own Samartex-managed concessions; and achieve certification to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council in 2007. This progress will contribute towards sustainable management of the forests in the western region of Ghana and protect species such as forest elephants, chimpanzees, red colobus monkeys, and bongos that depend on Samartex-managed forests for their habitat.
The Ghana Forest & Trade Network was established with, and receives support from, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).
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