Corporate social responsibility: the case of forestry in Ghana

project summary

The Ghanaian forest resources provide important welfare benefits such as livelihood maintenance, carbon storage and economic growth. A high rate of deforestation threatens the continued provision of these benefits. Weakly enforced government regulation of logging operations has been identified as one of the important drivers of the present deforestation in Ghana. CSR is generally described as a market based mechanism where a company on a voluntary basis addresses social and environmental issues other than what government regulations prescribe. The non-state nature of the market-based forms of forest governance may provide important contributions to forest improvements particularly in places where state governance is absent or weak. The absent or weak state governance may, however, also impede the continued functionality of the market-based system. Particularly when it comes to abilities and inclination of private sector actors contributing to issues of tropical deforestation being addressed, further knowledge is needed with regards to the factors affecting this. The potentials of CSR contributing to sustained forest management depend on the incentive of logging operators to initiate CSR integration in their business. Acquiring insights on these various factors and relative importance will enable discussions regarding the ability of CSR and market based mechanisms to address issues of deforestation, particularly in areas where government regulations are absent or weak.