Kumasi Wood Cluster Association was inaugurated on the 7th of February 2005 in Kumasi. It was established with six pioneer Small and Medium Forest Fnterprises; Bibiani Logging and Lumber Company Limited (BLLC), Sunstex Company Limited (SCL), Poku Transport Sawmill Limited (PTS), Ewhia Wood Products Limited (EWPL), Subri Industrial Plantations Limited (SIPL) and SKOD Company Limited.
Difficulty in accessing funds and raw materials by some of the companies led to their collapse. These include SKOD and PTS. Two other companies, SIPL and SKOD had to withdraw from the cluster in 2008 due to the same financial and machinery difficulties. These companies have however pledged to re-apply for membership when they have been able to stabilize themselves.
In February 2009, the Secretariat embarked on membership recruitment and that resulted in the joining of GVPCL to the cluster. Currently, the cluster is made up of three companies; Sunstex Company Limited, Bibiani Logging Company Limited and Ghana Veneer Processing Company Limited.
KWC’s goal is to support the efforts of small-medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) utilizing wood removed in ways that maintain or restore forest health and fulfill social obligations and to create markets for their products. Wood used by KWC companies is mainly sourced from forest reserves in Ghana. KWC companies produce a variety of products that include plywood, veneer, layons, kiln and air dried. The Association’s objectives are to assist SMFEs in the following ways:
• Mobilize adequate supply of raw material for their use;
• Develop new products using secondary species and non-timber forest resources for existing and new customers in traditional and new markets;
• Share, make use of, or trade in idle plant capacities for processing, un-utilized/underutilized machinery and equipment, specilaised skills in human resource and raw material to be disposed off. Adjusting production capacities in line with, human resource skills, raw material and equipment availability in partner firms.
• Develop markets for traditional and new products.
• Undertake individual or group certification.
KWC has now grown in capacity and experience and has therefore diversified its scope of activities and programmes. Apart from its forest management and chain of custody certification programme, it is also undertaking other forest and environment related projects, all geared towards sustainable forest management and environmental protection.
KWC is a member of the ICCO Sustainable Forest Management Programme in Ghana.
OBJECTIVES
The objectives for establishing the KWC are:
- To access adequate supply of raw material for members’ use;
- The development of new products using secondary species and non-timber forest resources (e.g., bamboo) for existing and new customers in traditional and new markets;
- Adjusting production capacities in line with, human resource skills, raw material and equipment availability in partner firms
- Developing markets for traditional and new products.
- Undertaking group forest management and chain of custody certification.
VISION
That the sustainable and profitable functioning and development of Small-Medium Forest-based Enterprises in Ghana shall be guaranteed by effective and efficient utilization of resources available to them.
MISSION
To promote partnership that supports environmentally-sound economic development of Small and Medium Forest Enterprises (SMFEs).
GOAL
To support the efforts of small-medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) utilizing wood removed in ways that maintain or restore forest health and fulfill social obligations and to create markets for their products.
FAQ
What is Forest Certification?
Forest certification is a process of inspecting a particular forest against standard developed by
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). An independent third party body carries out the inspection
and gives a written assurance that forest operations or a products conforms to the internally
agreed social and environmental principles and criteria. It was designed to encourage the
sustainable management of forests throughout the world. Independent auditors evaluate forest
management operations to determine whether their owners are complying with sound forestry
standards. Owners who meet the required standards will have their forests certified as “well-
managed.” This label will provide assurance to both the woodlot owners and consumers of wood
products that their forests are being well managed.
What are the Components of Forest Certification?
Certification includes two components: Forest Management Certification, which is the
certification of the sustainability of forest management activities; and Product Certification also
termed “Chain of Custody” (CoC), which is the process of tracking timber products to its source.
The relevance of certification to companies is that it secures their raw material base and
increases access to international markets and capital.
Group Certification
Group certification is when more than one company’s operation is certified under one single FSC
certificate. Under this system of certification, one organization holds the certificate on behalf of
the group members. It has been created to facilitate equal, non-discriminatory access for small
forest owners to certification as compared to large industrial forest owners.
Why Group Certification
Group certification enables group members to share some of the costs related to certification thus
allowing reduced costs of certification per forest owner and forest area.
KWC opted for the group certification system instead of individual certification because of the
benefit that economy of scale provides by their joining their small forest concessions together
for certification purposes only. The barriers to certification that small companies do face include
high costs and difficulties of understanding the certification standards, lack of knowledge on
how to comply with requirements of the certification standards, inability to access and bear costs
of specialist advice and information, lack of information on what certification is and how to
obtain it. It is for such purpose that group certification is allowed so that costs can be shared for
providing such services.
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
The FSC is an international non-profit organization founded to support environmentally
appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world’s forests.
It supports the development of national and regional standards to be used to evaluate whether
a forest is being well-managed. FSC, with its head office in the city of Bonn, Germany, is
governed by an elected Board which consists of people from industry, environmental, social
and labour groups, Indigenous People’s representatives and others. The FSC is the most widely
recognized body best-regarded system for forest certification. Globally, FSC has certified more
than 75 million hectares forests and over 5000 Chain of Custody certificates in more than 80
countries.
Third Party Auditors
Third party auditors are accredited by FSC and have the authority to certify forests as well-
managed in accordance with the FSC Certification Standards. There are a number of third party
auditors that FSC who has the mandate to audit Companies undergoing certification against the
ten principles and criteria. Smartwood is one of the third party auditors. Smartwood is a program
of the Rainforest Alliance, an international nonprofit environmental group based in New York
City. It is managed by a headquarters staff of experienced forestry specialists and administrators
based at Rainforest Alliance offices in Vermont and an Europe and African office in Spain, in
collaboration with a growing number of independent nonprofit organizations that focus on forest
monitoring, evaluations, assessments and forest product certification in tropical, temperate, and
far northern regions.
Who is a certification Manager?
A Certification manager (CM) is the key person in each KWC member company responsible for
coordinating certification activities. The CM manages relationship with departmental managers
and stakeholders, sets action plans and agrees to targets, develops policies and procedures for
operational processes, overseas implementation of certification plans and activities within the
company and maintains liaison with KWC for the implementation of the certification program.
