GWTS PUBLIC PORTAL AND PARTICIPATION OF NON-STATE ACTORS IN TVD AUDITS AS OBSERVERS
By:
Civic Response
Published:
May 16, 2017
Countries:
Ghana
Topics:
FLEGT, Independent Forest Monitoring (IFM)
Document type:
Presentation
Document ID:
3587
View count:
1093
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GWTS PUBLIC PORTAL AND PARTICIPATION OF NON-STATE ACTORS IN TVD AUDITS AS OBSERVERS
- The FLEGT-VPA process provided the vehicle for Ghana to improve on existing weak forest governance, which had been identified as one of the major underlying causes of illegal logging in the country.
- Hence, while the FLEGT-VPA provided industry the opportunity to access EU market; Civil Society saw the VPA as a chance to ensure reforms in forest governance (including active participation of stakeholders in the governance process)
- The VPA also entrenched the long held understanding that non-state actors are the gate keepers of credible governance environment
- Ghana’s VPA also highlighted the need for effective monitoring (both by NSA and state institutions) to provide the check and balances to ensure effective law enforcement and compliance to legality standards
- Hence, access to timely and credible information is key to effective stakeholder monitoring of legality compliance, and so is the creation of ‘space’ for NSA to participate in the technical processes enhancing the credibility of the governance process
- We believe that these two indicative themes are being addressed through the development of the GWTS public portal and the creation of ‘space’ for non-state actors to participate in TVD audits as observers.