By Emmanuel Gamson
Takoradi, Oct. 01, GNA – Members of the Timber Validation Committee (TVC), have undergone a three-day intensive orientation session to enable them effectively discharge their mandates.
The TVC’s mandate was to ensure that timber and its related products exported outside the country, especially to the European Union market, met the requirements under the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) legal framework.
They were taken through the legal perspective of the TVC mandates and functions, overview of the forest sector in the context of legality verification, the functions of the Forest Service, Wildlife and Timber Industry Development divisions of the Forestry Commission among other topics.
Mr Philip Fiifi Buckman, the Chairman for the TVC, speaking to journalists on the side-lines, in Takoradi, said the orientation session had been both theoretical and practical, and broadened their knowledge on their core mandates as a committee.
He said: “As a committee, our mandate is to oversee the compliance of legal and regulatory frameworks governing timber products meant for both domestic and international markets, so we see this orientation as an important avenue to enhance our oversight capacity.”
Mr Buckman, also the Member of Parliament for Kwesimintsim, pledged the committee’s commitments to ensure that every tree felled in the country’s forests for timber purposes were done in accordance with the law to help protect forest reserves for current and future generations.
“We will ensure strict monitoring and compliance to the timber legality assurance system, where we will ensure fairness in licensing for local and international timber industry players,” he added.
As part of the orientation, the committee embarked on a field trip to the Subri Forest Reserve, learnt about stock survey, tree numbering, and yield allocation.
They were also taken through aspects of forest management prescription applied in the field, including felling, stump marking, and felled Tree Information Capture (TIF).
GNA
Edited by Justina Paaga/Lydia Kukua Asamoah