Assessment of revenue loss from illegal logging in Ghana’s informal timber sector

Abstract

This study estimated stumpage, Social Responsibility Agreement (SRA) and carbon revenue loss from Ghana’s informal timber sector. Secondary data on confiscated timber were collected from 13 District Forest offices from 2020 to 2022. The timber species volumes were computed with their corresponding stumpage, SRA, and potential carbon revenue. The results indicate that US$ 14,670.73 was lost as stumpage revenue between 2020 and 2022 in the study Forest Districts. SRA revenu e of US$ 733.54 originally destined for the development of forest fringe communities was also lost. For the study period, the highest potential carbon revenue loss (US$ 37,572) was recorded in the year 2020. The findings have implications for the country’s forest sector emission reduction target under the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and the realization of carbon revenue from the mandatory and voluntary markets. One key way to improve the forest revenue system is to address illegal logging as it is widespread in the country and contributes to the decline in stumpage revenue, which is one of the main sources of revenue for forest management and development at the local level.