The effectiveness of timber legality verification regime: a case of Ghana’s Legality Assurance System (GhLAS)

Abstract: Illegal logging and the associated trade in illegally produced forest products are major problems for not only many timber-producing countries but the world at large. As concerns for global forest loss continually increase, legality verification has emerged as one of the able ways to combat deforestation that is caused by illegal logging especially in the tropical regions. The European Union’s FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) action plan is by far the most ambitious environmental governance instrument that is aimed at combining legality principles with governance principles. The FLEGT Action Plan stimulates the formulation of a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) between the EU and the timber-producing countries. The VPA with Ghana like many others, identifies the national legal framework and the compliance monitoring system ensuring that all timber produced in the country for both the domestic market and export to the EU have been legally acquired, harvested and transported. It is against this backdrop that the study was conducted to explore the effectiveness of the timber legality verification regime adopting the Ghana Legality Assurance System (GhLAS) as case-study. It is to evaluate the effectiveness of the EU-FLEGT/VPA as a legality verification regime and the extent to which it ultimately inspires good forest governance with special focus on its effects on small holders in the informal economy. Six aspects of effectiveness as a baseline for regime evaluation suggested by Young (1994) was employed as the analytical framework in assessing the effectiveness of the GhLAS as a timber legality verification regime: problem solving, goal attainment, behavioral change, process effectiveness, constitutive effectiveness, and evaluative effectiveness. The results of this study revealed that the GhLAS has generally made substantial strides towards its goals: reducing illegal logging, promoting trade in legal timber, increasing transparency and accountability, improving benefit sharing and generally improving forest governance in Ghana. However, the study also unraveled evidence of certain factors that constrain legality verification in the country with adverse effects for smallholders in the informal economy. Recommendations are presented drawing on the conclusion that there are still major hurdles that the timber legality verification regime need to overcome considering special circumstances such as poverty and limited alternative means of survival for small holders in the informal economy. It is recommended that conscious efforts must be directed at increasing the capacity of medium and small-scale timber operators to enable them to become legally compliant to stay in business. The provision of other social options of social livelihood is also recommended for illegal chainsaw operators through stakeholder dialogue

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Universität Freiburg, Masterarbeit, 2019

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Keyword: Global Governance

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Freiburg
• (who): Universität
• (when): 2022
• Creator: Ziga-Abortta, Fafali Roy
• Contributor: Sotirov, Metodi Georgiev ; Schleicher, Tobias ; Grießhammer, Rainer ; Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. Professur für Forst- und Umweltpolitik

Further information

• DOI: 10.6094/UNIFR/229227
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-freidok-2292279
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:37 AM CEST