Ghana to access $50m to reduce greenhouse emission
The World Bank has approved Ghana’s Forest Investment Programme (FIP) to pave way for the government to access $50 million from the Climate Investment Fund (CIF) to implement strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
The facility will support the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources (MLNR), the lead national implementing agency for the FIP in Ghana, to roll out a number of projects targeted at reducing pressure on the natural forest through integrated landscape approach.
The CIF will facilitate the government’s efforts at effectively engaging local communities to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degraded (REDD+), enhance carbon stocks, as well as enlist the active involvement of the private sector in reducing the emissions.
A statement issued by the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources said the endorsement of Ghana’s FIP was given at the just-ended CIF 2012 Partnership Forum in Istanbul, Turkey, where similar packages were approved for two other countries, Burkina Faso and Indonesia.
It said the Technical Director for Forestry at the ministry, Mr Musa Abu Juam, represented Ghana at the meeting.
The forum, held on the theme, “Deepening Global Understanding of Linkages between Climate Change and Development”, brought together more than 400 representatives from governments, civil society groups, the private sector, among others.
It said efforts at reducing greenhouse emissions had hitherto been bedevilled by numerous problems, including insufficient incentives to conserve or plant trees in off-reserve areas, the illegal chain saw milling menace and the illegal harvesting of trees as a result of poor management of forest reserves.
The statement said imbalances in domestic timber demand and supply, rapid extension of cocoa farms, especially the shift from shaded to open cocoa farming, as well as poor inter-sectoral co-ordination to address cross-sectoral issues, were some of the challenges confronting the implementation of REDD+ programmes in Ghana.
It said Mr Juam, who was delighted at the approval for the $50m facility, explained that the facility would help strengthen institutional capacity in forest resources management, expand and diversify management options, improve governance, as well as enhance the regulatory framework to streamline tenure and tree rights.
Source: Daily Graphic