FOREST POLICY

Almost the whole of Samartex’s concessions takes the form of what is known as ‘Forest Reserves’. These are areas of forest, which have been demarcated and set aside to be safeguarded for silvicultural use.

In other words, they are protected from farming activities or any other activities which would destroy the forest canopy. Commercial timber extraction is allowed in these reserves but under strictly controlled and monitored conditions. Some reserves are completely protected from all commercial activity (although none of the Samartex concessions are), and within almost every reserve some areas are completely protected from logging activities. This protection can be to protect rivers, extreme slopes, etc. Large swathes of many reserves have also recently been designated as ‘Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas’ (GSBAs) and set aside from all future logging activities to maintain the complex interdependent number of species both plant and animal. Productive forest reserves (or the productive portions of these reserves) are subdivided into compartments (usually 128 ha).

These ‘compartments’ are the smallest management units, and harvesting is carried out within the confines of these compartments. The compartments in the reserves are grouped according to a harvesting schedule. The principle of this schedule is to manage the reserve on a forty-year rotation. This means that when a compartment has been logged it will be a further forty years before any further commercial logging can occur. These forty years have been chosen as the optimum period to allow natural regeneration to occur after logging. The individual compartments are grouped into coupes within the harvesting schedule. Each coupe lasts for five years. The company is allowed to log the compartments within five years.

The next coupe cannot be entered into before the five years have elapsed. The company cannot simply log the compartments on an ad-hoc basis. Apart from the harvesting schedule, there are furthermore detailed controls on the logging activity at the compartment level. It is a commonly held misconception that tropical logging is simply clear-cut felling where vast areas are deforested. Nothing can be further from the truth. Ghana’s logging standards are some of the strictest in the world. The number of trees removed per hectare (<2) is extremely small. Indeed, by European or North American forestry standards, it is tiny. Every tree that the company can take is individually selected, and the logging operations themselves are strictly controlled and monitored by the Forest Services Division. Before any logging activity can commence, a stock survey team from Forest Services Division (FSD) surveys the entire compartment. Every commercial timber tree larger than 50cm diameter is recorded, as well as the physical features and topography within the compartment. This survey also demarcates the compartment boundaries by slashing a clear line through the forest to delineate the extent of the compartment. It is a vast undertaking, usually taking a team of eleven people up to four weeks.

Agro-Forestry And Afforestation

Agro-Forestry

• Aside from employing over 2,000 workers from across the country, Samartex through its support, training, and alternative livelihood programs provides jobs directly and indirectly to a number of communities:
• Sensitizing and training communities and farmers on best farming practices
• Distribution of beehive boxes for farmers interested in beekeeping and harvesting, pig farming assistance, purchasing of thaumatin fruits from farmers, snail rearing, seedlings distribution to farmers, interplanting agreement with farmers, etc.

Regeneration Of Our Natural Resource

• Our nursery in Samreboi where timber seedlings are raised.(available for distribution and purchase)
• Tano nimre plantation
• Oda kotoamso (ocap) plantation
• Adeiso plantation

These are all directed at regenerating and sustaining our natural resource