A reality check: unveiling the unseen faces of SRA compliance in Ghana
Emerging forest governance regimes emphasise the implementation of social responsibility agreements (SRAs) to enable local communities' access forest rents. While studies have considered SRA implementation in recent years, they are restricted to a few areas and fail to provide insights
into wide-scale compliance. This study addresses this by analysing SRA compliance in 36 communities with different forest resource endowments in Ghana. The study found differences in levels SRA compliance with off-reserve actor largely non-compliant. Compliance was motivated by a combination
of instrumental, but largely normative factors. Context-specific issues – e.g. low awareness and actor mistrust– enabled non-compliance. The findings suggest that a utopian model and reliance on sanctions alone may not improve SRA compliance in Ghana. Rather, SRAs need to evolve
to embrace context-specific norms and the scale of timber contracts. The findings lay a benchmark for SRA compliance monitoring and have extended applications for FLEGT implementation in Ghana and beyond.
Keywords: COMPLIANCE; FLEGT; GHANA; LOCAL COMMUNITIES; SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AGREEMENT
Document Type: Research Article
Publication date: 01 December 2019
- The International Forestry Review is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that publishes original research and review papers on all aspects of forest policy and science, with an emphasis on issues of transnational significance. It is published four times per year, in March, June, September and December. Theme editions are a regular feature and attract a wide audience.
The IFR is part of The Global Forest Information Service - GFIS
International Forestry Review has an Impact Factor of 1.705 - Editorial Board
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