# Planted Timber

## Definition

### No legally defined permit

Planted timber is not a naturally occurring resource. Therefore its ownership does not by default coincide with the ownership of the land they are planted on. Rather, a planter owns the trees it has planted, even if it was not on its own land.

Planted timber | Naturally occurring timber
Timber ownership ≠ land ownership | Timber ownership = land ownership | Timber ownership = land ownership

The Timber Resource Management Act clearly forbids the granting of timber rights in respect of land with private forest plantation or land with timber grown or owned by an individual or group of individuals.

However, Timber Utilisation Contracts can be granted with respect to on-reserve planted timber located on public land. Therefore, in order to harvest planted timber on public land, one must hold a TUC and meet the requirements laid down in the TRMA:

- Consent from the landowner must be obtained,
- TUCs must be awarded through a two stages competitive bidding process,
- TUCs must be signed by the Minister responsible for land and natural resources upon recommendation of the Forestry Commission,
- TUCs must be ratified by Parliament,
- A Social Responsibility Agreement must be prepared.

Under the Modified Taungya System (MTS) farmers are allocated shares of land in degraded parts of forest reserves and are given seedlings to reforest the area. They are also permitted to plant the trees and food crops on the same land, with the opportunity to farm during the first three years to earn income until the forest cover closes (intercropping).

Although there is no proper legal basis for the MTS in Ghanaian legislation, it appears that TUCs can be awarded to harvest timber grown under the MTS.

Relevant pieces of domestic legislation:

- Timber Resources Management Act (Act 547), 1998 - as amended in 2002 (Act 617)
- Timber Resources Management Regulation (LI 1649), 1998
- Timber Resources Management Regulation (Amendment) (LI 1721), 2003

## Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA)

### Legal type of permit if...

The Voluntary Partnership Agreement negotiated between the European Union and Ghana defines what legally produced timber is. The definition sets out Ghana's legislation that must be complied with in order for timber products to be covered by FLEGT licenses. The definition limits legal sources of timber to TUCs, Salvage Permits and Certificates of Purchase.

The VPA includes on-reserve planted timber when establishing the criteria of validity for TUCs. Accordingly, wood products coming from Ghana may result from plantations.

The VPA sets a number of criteria under which plantation TUCs are to be considered legal:

- Logger participates in competitive bidding process;
- The Forestry Commission recommends to MLFM to award a TUC to Logger;
- Logger complies with all conditions specified in Minister's notice of award under the Act. This includes a secured consent from concerned individual, group or landowner;
- The Minister executes the TUC in the prescribed format;

The VPA mentions another type of permit: Plantation felling permits. These are not mentioned in Ghanaian legislation.

## European Timber Regulation (EUTR)

### No legally defined permit

Under the EUTR, operators have a due diligence obligation (Articles 4-6) to assess the risk of the timber and timber products they place on the EU market containing illegally harvested timber. Amongst other things, the due diligence obligation requires information/ documentation to prove that the felling permit is legally recognised by Ghanaian law. Therefore, operators must confirm the legality of the TUC under which the timber was logged as part of the risk assessment they are conducting. They should consider whether the permit was obtained correctly and its terms properly respected.

Operators due diligence obligation: Is the TUC legally recognised by Ghanaian law
Yes | No
Timber can be legally placed on the European market | Timber is not legal

However, it should be noted that confirming the legality of the type of permit is only one element of the assessment that operators must conduct as to the risk that timber has been logged illegally.