Desarrollo del Sistema de Control

This section analyses conflicts and conflict management in the Tano-Offin GSBA using the conflict wheel developed by Mason & Rychard (2005) (see Chapter 2). The use of the conflict wheel enables an in-depth analysis of the various dimensions of conflicts17 and the coming to grips with the three orders of day-to-day conflict management (im- ages, instruments and actions). Based on the survey outcomes, the issues, actors, causes and dynamics reflect the respondents’ images that underlie the choice of instruments. The instruments and actions are addressed thereafter.

Issues

The survey revealed that two forest-related conflict types prevail in the study area: those related to forest resources and those related to forestland use. The first includes conflicts related to chainsaw milling, commercial NTFP extraction, the gathering of NTFPs for domestic use and hunting. Conflicts relating to forestland use evolve from illegal farm- ing and the extension of admitted farms. Table 7.4 indicates the number of respondents who mentioned each conflict type when they were asked whether they are aware of any forest and tree-related conflict in the Tano-Offin GSBA. The most frequently mentioned conflicts are those relating to chainsaw milling (53%), extension of admitted farms (49%) and illegal farming (34%).

Table 7.4 Livelihood components around which conflicts evolve

Livelihood component Respondents who mentioned the conflict types*18

(n) (%)

Chainsaw milling

NTFPs for domestic use (plants) NTFPs for commercial use (plants) Hunting

Extension of admitted farms Illegal farming 63 (53%) 5 (4%) 18 (15%) 6 (5%) 58 (49%) 40 (34%)

* N = 119; more than one conflict type could be mentioned. Source: Field survey 2009.

Actors involved

The actors involved in livelihood conflicts in the Tano-Offin GSBA operate at different levels of scale, namely at community, district, regional and national levels (Figure 7.5). In each conflict type, most of the actors belong to the community setting while the rest cut across the district, regional and national levels.

The principal actors in chainsaw milling are the chainsaw operators. These include community members (either indigenes or migrants) and external operators who mi- grated from elsewhere purposely to engage in the milling activity. Counterparts in the conflicts include the FSD and military or the FSD and police officials19, lumber buyers and carriers. In addition, traditional authorities, community members and farmers are involved in conflicts with chainsaw operators. There are also conflicts among the opera- tors themselves. Most respondents (76%) perceive the chainsaw operators to be the lead actors in conflicts because their actions conflict with the prevailing statutory forest leg-

17 _{The context of the six dimensions was addressed earlier in this chapter.}

18 _{Not all the questions on conflict dynamics and management strategies related to the different conflict} types that are dealt with here were responded to by all the respondents.

19

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islations and because they steal and fight over stolen trees among themselves or with forestry officials or farmers. The FSD/military teams are also blamed (by 14% of the respondents) because of the coercive strategy they employ when arresting the culprits. In the midst of this blame game, some respondents (10%) accuse the national and local governments of taking inadequate steps to create employment, and this contributes to the prevalence of chainsaw operations within the reserve. Less visible to the respon- dents, but behind the operators, are actors at district and national levels who finance the operations.

Source: Field survey 2009.

Actors involved in conflicts around NTFP collection for domestic use and hunting are mainly village inhabitants. Their counterparts in the conflicts are FSD officials. Ac- tors involved in commercial NTFP trade are mainly outsiders, but also resident villag- ers. As shown in Figure 7.2, actors involved in the extension of admitted farms include farmers in conflict with other farmers with whom they share a common boundary, or with FSD officials, chainsaw millers, food crop thieves, farm labourers or family mem- bers. The survey data revealed that most instances of this conflict type (reported by 48% of the respondents) occur among farmers who share common boundaries.

Figure 7.5 Multi-level analysis of actors involved in livelihood conflicts in Tano-Offin GSBA (Kyekyewere village), Ghana

Finally, conflicts arising from illegal farming occur between illegal farmers (both na- tives and migrants) on the one side, and FSD officials, the military taskforce, CBAGs, or chiefs and elders on the other. Conflicts also occur between illegal farmers and the native community members of Kyekyewere. Most of the respondents (80%) perceived the illegal farmers to be the ‘villains’ because they have no legal right to farm in the forest.

Causes

Multiple factors contribute to conflicts, including both antecedent conditions and mani- fest (observable) behaviour, with incompatible claims to forest land and resources being the underlying cause of all of them (Table 7.5).

Table 7.5 Antecedents and manifest behaviour leading to forest livelihoods conflicts in Tano-Offin GSBA

Kind of livelihood conflict

Antecedents conditions Manifest behaviour Chainsaw milling Hardship

Scarcity of farmlands Inadequate job opportunities Mistrust between actors Greed

Theft among chainsaw operators Felling trees without a permit Cheating other lumber operators or lumber carriers

Application of force by FC/military officials during arrest

NTFPs for domestic use

Hardship and need for forest resources Competing claims among collectors

Entering the reserve for NTFP collection without a permit or per- mission from forest guards Excessive use relative to other collectors

NTFPs for commercial use

Hardship Need for income

Entry into the reserve without a permit

Hunting Need for income Hunting during the closed season

between August and December Admitted farming Land scarcity because of population

increase

Absence or decay of border markers

Extension of admitted farms into forest or neighbouring farms Illegal farming Land scarcity

FSD failure to provide extra farmlands Hardship

Landownership/boundary disputes

Entry into the forest reserve to farm

Source: Field survey 2009.

The manifest behaviour which leads to conflicts relating to illegal chainsaw milling is felling trees without a permit, theft and cheating among chainsaw operators, and the use of violence in confrontations with FSD and military officials. The antecedent condi- tions at community level are mainly hardship, scarcity of farmland and a lack of job opportunities. At higher levels of scale, both need and greed (e.g. of timber traders, chainsaw millers) are underlying factors.

Manifest behaviour resulting in conflicts relating to NTFP extraction and hunting in- cludes entering the reserve without a permit, excessive NTFP use relative to other community members, and disregard for the legal ban on hunting (‘closed season’) from

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August to December.20 The antecedent conditions that trigger these conflicts are hard- ship, competing claims and the need for cash income. Extension of admitted farms into the GSBA and/or on land claimed by neighbouring farmers are the key immediate causes of admitted farm conflicts, with the antecedent conditions being land scarcity due to the village’s location in the middle of a forest reserve and unclear borders (due to absence or decay of border markers). The key immediate cause of illegal farming con- flicts is entry into the forest reserve to farm (identified by 45% of the respondents). An- tecedent conditions include land scarcity, FSD failure to provide extra farmlands, hard- ship and landownership/boundary disputes.

Conflicts dynamics

The key effects of the conflicts described above are hatred, insults and fights between actors, the destruction of food crops, the evacuation of illegal farmers, the confiscation of chainsaws and/or lumber by forestry officials and the arrest or prosecution or impris- onment of offenders. In some instances, the offenders receive beatings from the FSD/military patrolling team or vice-versa that sometimes lead to injuries and death. The conflicts appear to occur all year round.

Chainsaw milling conflicts occur when chainsaw operators are confronted by either the FSD or the military officials when they enter the forest to fell trees, during transpor- tation of the lumber to the market, or when they fight among themselves over money or logs. Respondents distinguished between two kinds of conflict stages namely non- violent and violent. It was noted that these qualifications were subjective and not under- pinned by explicit criteria. This means that a conflict type could be classified as violent by one respondent and non-violent by another, depending on how the respondents per- ceived the incidence. The respondents’ perceptions of a conflict stage being non-violent or violent may be in line with how local people give meanings to the term ‘conflict’. In the local language, Twi, a distinction is made between either (i) ntawatawa, which indi- cates a difference of opinion or misunderstanding, or (ii) ntokwa, which is a more severe conflict or indicates a violent clash. Table 7.6 presents the conflict stages reported as non-violent and violent by the respondents for each conflict type.

Table 7.6 Respondents’ opinions about conflict severity

Conflict types Conflict severity

(no. of respondents indicating the respective per conflict type)

Non-violent Violent

Chainsaw milling (n=61) 54 7

NTFPs for domestic use (n=5) 5 -

NTFPs for commercial use (n=16)

16 -

Hunting (n=6) 6 -

Extension of admitted farms (n=56)

56 -

Illegal farming (n=36) 29 7

* N = 119; more than one issue could be mentioned. Source: Field survey 2009.

20 _{The Wildlife Conservation Regulation of 1971 (LI 685) and its amendments (LI 1284, LI 1357 and LI} 1452) establishes a four-month period from 1 August to 1 December during which it is not allowed to hunt for any animal, except for grasscutters (Thryonomys swinderianus). This period coincides with the breeding season for most animals.

Seven respondents mentioned violent conflict incidences relating to chainsaw mill- ing. Five of them referred to conflicts between operators and a team of FSD officials and the military because of the use of force by both parties. The other two respondents referred to conflicts between chainsaw operators due to money disputes and/or stealing of logs.

Among the five respondents who responded to conflicts relating to NTFP extraction for domestic use, the conflict incidences witnessed were found to be non-violent. This type of conflict does not occur frequently, provided the inhabitants do not exceed the average communal use quantity (normally estimated as ‘head load’) and provided per- mission has been asked from the forest guards. As shown in Table 7.6, conflicts relating to NTFP extraction for commercial use were also qualified as non-violent, as were hunt- ing and the extension of admitted farms. Unlike other conflict types, which occur throughout the year, hunting conflicts mainly occur during the ‘closed season’ between August and December when hunting is prohibited. Conflicts relating to the extension of admitted farms also occur throughout the year, but are more frequent at the beginning of the farming season or during the harvesting season (when people steal food crops or when there is a misunderstanding between landowners and tenants or among family members about crop-sharing mechanisms or when admitted farms extend into the forest reserve.

Illegal farming conflicts occur whenever a farmer enters and farms in the reserve and is confronted by either a forestry official or a community member who is a CBAG member or someone who claims the same piece of land. Conflicts also arise in cases of boundary disputes with neighbouring illegal farmers or food crop theft. The peak sea- sons for such conflicts are the onset of the farming and the harvesting seasons. Similarly to chainsaw milling, only seven of the respondents classified this conflict type as vio- lent.

Instruments: Conflict management strategies

Negotiation is generally used to resolve the conflicts relating to the six forest liveli- hoods conflicts types (Figure 7.6; see Chapter 2 for the different conflict management strategies). The most frequently reported coping strategy in chainsaw milling is negotia- tion (58% of the respondents) and includes (i) negotiating a fair deal among chainsaw operators, between chainsaw operators and farmers and sometimes between operators and forest guards and (ii) negotiation through bribery, which involves chainsaw opera- tors and FSD/military personnel. Avoidance (i.e. escape because of fear) was found to be the second most important coping strategy represented by 27% of the respondents. Other strategies observed are arbitration, coercion and adjudication. A mixture of me- diation and facilitation was found to be used by the chief and elders or the Unit Com- mittees at village level to resolve conflicts among chainsaw operators, between chain- saw operators and lumber buyers, or between chainsaw operators and lumber carriers.

In the case of NTFP extraction for domestic use (n=5), the most common conflict management strategy is mediation, mentioned by 80% of the respondents with chief and elders acting as mediators. Only one person (20%) mentioned avoidance as being the prevailing coping strategy: the offenders abscond for fear of being arrested. Similarly, in conflicts relating to commercial NTFP extraction most respondents mentioned nego- tiation between extractors and forest guards as the most commonly employed conflict resolution strategy. Other strategies included adjudication and avoidance. In hunting conflicts, two conflict management strategies prevail: arbitration through the district

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court system and negotiation (mentioned by 80% and 20% of the respondents respec- tively. Here the magistrate normally resolves such an offence using arbitration (giving a mild sanction to the offender) rather than the adjudication process by fining the culprit based on the level of offence. Alternatively, if the offender pleads with the official upon arrest, he receives a warning not to lay game traps again. The most common coping strategy reported in relation to admitted farm conflicts is a blend of mediation- arbitration (54% of the respondents), followed by negotiation (19%), facilitation and moderation (16%) and avoidance (11%) (Figure 7.6).

Actors involved in mediation–arbitration include the chief and elders, family elders, landowners, a joint team of chief and elders or Unit Committees. Negotiation occurs mainly in conflicts among farmers, between the FSD and the community, and between the FSD and farmers. Facilitation and moderation often involves the creation of a spe- cial conflict resolution team made up of family elders or a joint team of chief and elders, forest guards and Unit Committee members.

Just like coping strategies in chainsaw milling, illegal farming conflicts were ob- served to employ four conflict management avoidance modes because of a prevailing feeling of fear (mentioned by 53% of the respondents). Other modes reported by the respondents included negotiation (23%), mediation (15%) and coercion (9%). Actors

Figure 7.6 Proportion of respondents indicating which conflict management strategies prevailed for each conflict type

involved in the conflict management processes were the chief and elders, Unit Commit- tee members, assemblypersons, FSD officials and the police.

Perceived effectiveness of managing livelihood conflicts in the forest reserve

The survey in the village of Kyekyewere on how actors in conflict management suc- ceeded in managing the conflicts effectively generated a range of different views. Of the 99 respondents who responded to the question, 74% (n=73) were of the opinion that conflict management was effective, whilst 19% said this was not always the case and 7% were unsure about the effectiveness of conflict management strategies. Factors re- ported as having positively influenced conflict management outcomes are the culprit’s acceptance of faults and supremacy of the intervening actors. The first has often resulted in agreements being reached based on a common understanding and tolerance between the parties, strong family ties and the desire for peace. The supremacy of intervening actors such as the Unit Committees, chiefs and elders, family elders, FSD officials, po- lice and court also contributed to successful conflict resolution. This supremacy is rooted in society’s respect and fear for these actors and on the fairness of the outcomes to the conflict parties. Some conflict cases have been minimised because of interven- tions of the military, police and FSD officials that made offenders abscond due to fear and threats.

Nevertheless, some factors were found to hinder conflict management processes in- cluding (i) the lack of arbitrators to plead for community members (reference was made to a contested piece of admitted farmland in the GSBA), (ii) greed, and (iii) impatience and pride on the part of the parties leading to misunderstanding and disagreement. Other impeding factors include the illegality of operations in the forest reserve (especially in chainsaw lumbering and farming) and restricted access to permits which people need to enter the forest.

Discussion

Interactions between the system-to-governed and governing system

The system-to-be-governed analysed in this chapter is the Tano-Offin Reserve in Ghana’s high forest zone. Its rich biodiversity and water bodies (Kyereh et al. 2006) led to the creation of the GSBA. In the midst of the GSBA are the inhabitants of the admit- ted village of Kyekyewere, whose livelihoods are linked to forest resources despite rules and laws that restrict their access. The location of the village makes its inhabitants highly dependent on forest resources and farming activities, with growing pressure on forest and land resources due to the growth of the village’s population since the creation of the forest reserve21 and the GSBA. The local inhabitants of the admitted village of Kyekyewere have few legal forest livelihood options other than access to NTFPs for domestic use. Most forms of forest-based livelihood components – NTFP extraction for commercial use without a permit, chainsaw milling, extension of admitted farms and farming in the reserve – are illegal according to the prevailing laws. In 1998, Ghana banned the use of chainsaws to process lumber. Farming within forest reserves is illegal, except for admitted farms and farming under reforestation schemes such as the MTS

21 _{According to the village chief, the admitted village of Kyekyewere had about 62 inhabitants when the} reserve was created in 1949 and an adult (>18 years) population of 450-500 during the survey.

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(Chapter 8). The illegality relating to forest resource and land use results in conflicts prejudicing local people’s wellbeing.22

The governing system actually consists of three key governing systems, including the statutory or formal governing system (represented by the FSD), the customary or tradi- tional governing system (i.e. chief and elders) and a hybrid system (with actors such as CBAGs and the Unit Committee (UC)).Each of these actors has specific roles and re- sponsibilities in relation to forest resources management. The main actor in the statutory governing system, the FSD, has inadequate frontline staff and logistics to ensure effec- tive monitoring and extension services at community level. At the same time, the forest reservation process, coupled with the Forest Ordinance (Cap 157) of 1927 and the Con- cession Act of 1962, took power from traditional leaders by transferring resource alloca- tion and ownership to the central state.

According to Mayers & Kotey (1996), legislation with regard to forests has turned traditional authorities in Ghana into passive and marginalised recipients of insignificant and irregular shares of revenue, with no formal decision-making roles in any aspect of forest management. According to formal laws, traditional leaders have no legal role with respect to managing forest resources and, for that matter, in conflict management processes. However, this study revealed that the local traditional council of Kyekyewere is actively involved in resolving forest-related livelihood conflicts and hence contradicts