STAKEHOLDERS ’ PERCEPTION OF FOREST AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT IN GHANA

Copyright © 2014 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT: The objective of the study is to examine stakeholders ’ perception of forest and its implication for sustainable forest management in Ghana. This has become necessary in the light of the fact that operational application of forest management remains troublesome leading to the development of inconsistent forest management practices in the country. The study was approached using a cross-sectional design imploring semi-structured interviews and questionnaires as data collection method and instrument respectively in Juaso Forest District in the Asante Akim Central Municipality of Ghana. The research findings indicate that stakeholders ’ participation in sustainable forest management in the Juaso Forest District has been met with a myriad of challenges. These challenges are deeply rooted in the stakeholders ’ perceptions of what constitute forest in the communities. These perceptions have defined the conditions required for sustainable forest management at the local level. It is noted that sustainable forest management is a collaborative efforts, hence at the local level efforts should be made to ensure participation of all stakeholders in the decision making, policy design and implementation