Certification

Ghana is well advanced in setting out a system for auditing forest practices in order to be able to demonstrate to consumers and environmentalists in a credible way that it is committed to best possible forest management.

By 1999 Ghana was able to establish principles, criteria and indicators for use to confirm acceptable forest management practices. These derived from Ghana own National Standard for its forests. All steps to setting out a system of certification for Ghana forests have been evolved with the involvement of relevant stakeholders. The system has to be devised to meet situations in Ghana but is compatible with the guidelines of the intergovernmental International Tropical Timber Organisation and other international and regional initiatives such as that of the interministerial African Timber Organisation.