Le timide reboisement des paysans ghanéens

The paper describes the ongoing attempts towards reforestation on farmland in the forest belt of Ghana, West Africa. After a century of predatory exploitation of the environment which has seen the forest cover almost completely disappear, in the last decade the NGOs and the Ghanaian government have intensified their attempts to regenerate a forest cover in the southern half of Ghana. The author identifies in the separation between farm and timber rights, sold to farmers and firms respectively, one of the major causes for the indiscriminate destruction of trees. The hostility that developed between farmers and timber firms led to an immense destruction of trees through slash and burn agriculture. Even though efforts towards reforestation meet local demands, are economically viable and ecologically sound, these are hampered by a land tenure system that still offers no timber tenurial security to farmers. Recent legislative reforms concerning land tenure have not reassured farmers of their timber tenure prerogatives. Nothing short of the allocation of the ownership of planted timber to farmers – it is argued - will guarantee their involvement in reforestation projects