Reduced Impact Logging and Silvicultural Interventions in Ghana: the Case of Bobiri Forest Reserve

The recovery of selectively harvested tropical forests should benefit from a range of management practices referred to as “Reduced Impact Logging (RIL)”. Failure to apply these practices is likely to slow recovery as has been observed in various regions of the world including Ghana. Although the Revised Logging Manual for Ghana (LMG) includes some RIL measures, forest recovery is slower than predicted by yield models and is unsustainable in the currently applied forty-year logging cycle. This study adopted a multi-disciplinary approach to investigate the implementation of RIL in Bobiri Forest Reserve, Ghana. A comparative analysis of the LMG and a Regional Code of Practice for reduced-impact forest harvesting was also conducted. The results of this study suggest that the implementation of RIL measures in Bobiri is sporadic due to barriers in the flow of information among stakeholders and to the lack of technical training for field staff of logging companies. Logging companies tend to implement RIL measures if they receive clear and feasible indications, but such information is often unavailable to them.