Chainsaw operators’ perception of the availability of timber resources and their willingness to pay for timber harvesting rights

In recent times, chainsaw milling has generated protracted public debate, and has been pervasive and contested in the forest governance discourse in Ghana. Even though regularization of the activities of operators has been proposed as a viable option for dealing with the issue, operators’ willingness to pay for timber harvesting rights has not yet been assessed. This paper presents results from a study that attempted to assess chainsaw operator’s perception of the availability of timber resources and their willingness to pay to harvest timber. Results of the study indicate that chainsaw operators are willing to pay the FC for timber harvesting rights if their activities are captured under a regularized regime, although their preferences varied: 50 percent of the 50 operators interviewed preferred to pay tax on each timber tree harvested (product tax); 34 percent wanted to pay monthly or annual permit fees; and 14 percent wanted to pay tax on income accrued from chainsaw lumbering (income tax). In terms of the way in which chainsaw activities should be regularized, 74 percent of operators want concessions for registered groups of operators, 18 percent want individual permits to harvest individual trees (permit per tree harvested), while 6 percent want small concessions for individual operators. The paper concludes that rather than continuing with a ban which has not been effective in addressing indiscriminate logging, chainsaw operations need to be regularized to ensure that chainsaw operators pay appropriate taxes to the state for the trees they fell.