Good governance practices in Ghana's FLEGT voluntary partnership agreement process: an application of Q methodology

The aim of the European Union Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade Action Plan and its Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) is to tackle illegal logging and trade in illegal timber, improve forest governance, and foster economic growth in the forest sector. This study employs a Q methodology to assess areas of consensus and disagreement among forest sector stakeholders in Ghana on good forest governance practices as applied to the VPA process. The consensus among these stakeholders is that the VPA process has improved the participation of civil society in decision making and the establishment of a robust verification system to promote transparency and accountability, which are critical for sustainable forest management. However, while the shared perspectives among stakeholders highlight the crucial role of the VPAs in promoting improved forest governance in Ghana, there are still areas of disagreement or tension regarding the issue of accountability, tree tenure rights, and the participation of local communities in the VPA process. The paper concludes by considering the practical implications of the findings for effective forest governance practices in developing countries.