UNDERSTANDING LOCAL BENEFICIARIES OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN THE BIA-TANO FOREST RESERVE FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST GOVERNANCE

Following the Rio Statement on Forest Principles, it is imperative to understand the socio-demographic characteristics, livelihoods activities and the kinds of NTFPs (NonTimber Forest Products) that fringe communities of Bia-Tano Forest Reserve (Ghana) harvest or collect in order to provide useful insights into planning, managing and governing to achieve sustainability of the reserves' resources. Three hundred sampled household heads from nine fringe communities of the Bia-Tano Forest Reserve assisted in answering our questionnaire, from which we derived our findings. The study showed that the households in fringe communities obtain several NTFPs from the reserve to support their livelihoods and well-being. The findings showed a high dependence by the households in the fringe communities on the reserves's resources. These forest ecosystem services, the most important being food, are collected or harvested for household consumption or income. However, the availability of these NTFPs has decreased due to frequent harvest and collection, overexploitation of the reserve's ecosystem services, illegal and legal harvesting of timber, and illegal farming in the forest reserve. The frequency of assessing the reserves NTFPs resulted from the reserve's closeness to the fringe communities. Although the forest guards prevent the fringe communities from illegally harvesting and collecting the reserve's NTFPs, the finding shows that some household members offer bribes to the forest guards to have their way through. The study further showed other anthropogenic activities such as encroachment, excessive poaching/hunting, and forest/bushfires as factors driving the depletion and degradation of the forest reserve. These activities have largely contributed to the reserve's cover changes and degradation. The lack of punitive actions against perpetrators of these illegal activities has caused a decline in the reserve's closed and open forests. The need for urgent management and governance strategies and actions is imminent to ensure the reserves' sustainability for sustained provision of NTFPs and carbon mitigation. The study recommends offering alternative livelihoods for the reserve fringe communities to reduce their high dependence on the reserve's resources to ensure sustainability.