TOGO

Togo has very little rainforest left and what remains is degraded and fragmented. Forest cover accounts for only 7% of the land area, and deforestation has been occurring at a rate of 4.5% per year and is still rising. Since 1990, Togo has lost 44% of its forests ' one of the highest deforestation rates in the world ' and there are no remaining primary forests.

Forest loss is mainly the result of subsistence slash-and-burn agriculture and fuelwood felling. Agriculture provides employment for 65% of the workforce, and cocoa, cotton and coffee generate 40% of export earnings. In addition, the mining industry (Togo is the worlds 4th largest producer of phosphate) contributes to environmental degradation. Poor governance and corruption (Togo was ruled by a military dictatorship until 2005 and the EU cut off aid in 1993 due to concern over human rights abuses) have contributed to poor resource management.

However, Togo is a signatory to the Accra Declaration which resulted from a FAO/ITTO workshop held in Accra, Ghana in July 2008, which explored the problems and possible solutions to the illegal extraction of forest resources in tropical West Africa.

DOCUMENTS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
20/10/2008	Cross-border flows of timber and wood products in West Africa Recognizing that regional and cross-border timber trade may have important implications for the FLEGT ...	European Commission
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NEWS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
18/06/2008	Fish and timber in West Africa need more sustainable EU policies say MEPs Fish and timber are natural resources often not managed in a sustainable way in West Africa due to inadequate ...	European Parliament (EU)
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22/01/2006	Goodbye to West Africa's rainforests West Africa's once verdant and extensive rainforests are now a historical footnote. Gone to build ...	Mongabay.com
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EVENTS

DATE	TITLE
Tuesday 15th July 2008	FAO/ITTO Regional Workshop on Improving Forest Law Compliance and Governance in Tropical West Africa Over the past two years, FAO and ITTO have assisted countries in the Amazon region, Central Africa, Central ...
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