Ghana issued 411 Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) licences in the second quarter of 2026, pushing the country’s cumulative total past 600 since it became the first African nation and the second globally to qualify for the certification in August 2025.
The licences, which now cover shipments to 22 European Union destinations, have strengthened Ghana’s standing in the international timber trade and, according to Lands and Natural Resources Minister Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, enhanced the country’s “global standing in its efforts towards climate resilience.”
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series held at the Presidency on Wednesday, Buah paired the trade update with a significant land-use reversal, describing Cabinet’s 24th June decision to revoke Executive Instrument, E.I. 144, as amended by E.I. 234, as a “historic cabinet decision” that restores the Achimota Forest to its original status as a forest reserve and secures an “ecological safety zone for Accra and its environs.”
The forestry sector’s other flagship intervention, the Tree for Life Restoration Initiative, launched by President John Dramani Mahama, planted about 31 million seedlings in 2025, achieving success rates of 50 to 78 percent in the northern savannah zone and 65 to 85 percent in the High Forest Zone, restoring roughly 23,600 hectares of degraded land.
Buah called the programme “a significant intervention in the government’s aggressive environmental restoration agenda” and urged the public to join the campaign “to make Ghana green again.” The Forestry Commission has set a target of 30 million seedlings for the current planting season, which began on 5 June, supported by 2,719 Youth Forest Champions engaged in nursery operations, site preparation and wildfire prevention.
Enforcement against illegal mining within forest reserves has also intensified. Joint operations by the Ministry and the Forestry Commission led to 258 arrests, the demobilisation of six excavators and 765 Changfan machines, the seizure of 1,225 pumping machines, and the destruction of 430 structures and 35 tricycles. Buah noted that Ghana has “not had any Red zones since December 2025.”
On reclamation, 1,535 acres of degraded land have been restored in the Ashanti Region in partnership with the private sector, which has committed to reclaiming a further 1,500 acres by year-end. The government is separately working to reclaim 960 acres across other degraded sites nationwide.
The Ministry is also developing a Legislative Instrument to operationalise the Wildlife Resources Management Act, 2023 (Act 1115), formalising the legal status of Community Resource Management Areas, which Buah described as “a model for engaging communities and landowners in sustainable forest management.”
Revenue diversification efforts within the sub-sector are centred on ecotourism upgrades at the Shai Hills Resource Reserve, where a 120-seater picnic area and a 10-unit chalet are nearing completion, and at Mole National Park, where a 20-room tourist accommodation and restaurant facility is being finalised.
