According to a World Bank Group publication dated February 24th, Ghana was paid $4,862,280 for reducing 972,456 tons of carbon emissions from a World Bank trust fund for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, commonly known as REDD+.
The West African country of 31 million people has become Africa’s second country after Mozambique to receive payments under the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) programme for the first monitoring period (June to December 2019).
“This payment is the first of four under the country’s Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) with the World Bank to demonstrate potential for leveraging results-based payments for carbon credits,” said Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. “Subject to showing results from actions taken to reduce deforestation, Ghana is eligible to receive up to $50 million for 10 million tons of CO2 emissions reduced by the end of 2024.”
All of these things happen in a six-million-hectare stretch of West Africa’s Guinean Forest, where cocoa farming, unsustainable harvesting, and small-scale mining threaten biodiversity and forests. Ghana is one of 15 countries to have entered into ERPAs with the World Bank.
“The many years of dialogue, consultations, and negotiations with local communities, traditional authorities, government agencies, the private sector, CSOs, and NGOs have paid off,” said Samuel A. Jinapor, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources. “This payment for reducing emissions will increase trust in Ghana’s REDD+ process for action to reduce deforestation and forest degradation while giving local communities a better chance at making a living.” “The road to global 1.5 degrees Celsius cannot be travelled without healthy standing forests,” says Ghana.
Ghana is the world’s second-largest cocoa producer. Cocoa drives the economy, but it is also one of the main causes of deforestation and forest degradation in the southeast and western regions of the country. Stakeholders are working to help some 140,000 Ghanaian farmers increase cocoa production using climate-smart agroforestry approaches rather than slash-and-burn land-clearing techniques that decimate forests. More sustainable cocoa farming keeps cocoa farms from moving into forest land and gives communities more stable ways to make money.
Ghana’s Cocoa Board is participating in the REDD+ process, as are some of the most important cocoa and chocolate companies in the world, including World Cocoa Foundation members like Mondelēz International, Olam, Touton, and others.
Their combined actions are not only helping bring change to the cocoa sector, but they are also helping Ghana meet its national emissions reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement.
This level of collaboration is also reflected in the benefit-sharing plan underpinning Ghana’s ERPA with the World Bank. The plan was made after extensive consultations with local stakeholders and civil society organizations across the country. It makes sure that everyone who helps reduce emissions is fairly recognized and rewarded for their work.
The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) is a global partnership of governments, businesses, civil society, and indigenous peoples’ organizations focused on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, conserving forest carbon stocks, ensuring sustainable management of forests, and enhancing forest carbon stocks in developing countries, activities commonly referred to as “REDD+.”
Launched in 2008, the FCPF has worked with 47 developing countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, along with 17 donors who have made contributions and commitments totaling $1.3 billion.
Source: www.zamireports.com/ Accra
