By Laudia Anyorkor Nunoo, GNA
Accra, July 31, GNA – Stakeholders in Ghana’s fisheries, environment and marine sectors have begun discussions on developing a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) framework, aimed at creating sustainable financing for the conservation and restoration of the country’s coastal and marine ecosystems.
The stakeholder meeting, organised by the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) and the Fisheries Commission as part of the MarEcoPlan Project, brought together people from the government, universities, civil groups, and the fishing industry to discuss how to create and implement the framework in Ghana.
The MarEcoPlan Project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and is being implemented in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo.
Professor Pierre Failler, an international consultant helping with the Payment for Ecosystem Services part of the project, said the system aims to provide long-term funding for protecting and managing ecosystems that are important for the Payment for Ecosystem Services component of the project, said the mechanism sought to provide long-term financing for the protection and sustainable management of ecosystems that support fisheries and other economic activities.
Prof. Failler explained that Payment for Ecosystem Services was a voluntary and conditional arrangement under which beneficiaries of ecosystem services compensate landowners or resource managers for protecting, restoring or sustainably managing natural resources.
He said healthy ecosystems such as mangroves, estuaries and wetlands provided essential services, including fish breeding habitats, shoreline protection, carbon storage and climate regulation, making investment in their conservation economically beneficial.
Prof Failler stated that Ghana’s proposed framework would identify fisheries that depended directly and indirectly on coastal ecosystems, map critical habitats, assess their ecological condition and quantify improvements resulting from restoration and conservation efforts.
He mentioned that the initiative would also involve fisheries stakeholders, to see if they were willing to help pay for improving ecosystems before setting up suitable funding methods for a Blue Payment for Ecosystem Services programme in Ghana.
Drawing on international experience, Prof. Failler cited Mauritania’s National Park of Banc d’Arguin as one of the first successful marine payment for ecosystem services initiatives, saying the arrangement, supported through the European Union fishing agreement, continued to generate approximately one million euros annually for conservation and fisheries management.
Participants said adopting a similar financing mechanism could strengthen Ghana’s efforts to restore degraded coastal ecosystems, enhance fish stocks, improve biodiversity conservation and support sustainable livelihoods in fishing communities.
The consultation formed part of broader efforts to integrate innovative financing mechanisms into marine spatial planning and strengthen the sustainable management of coastal and marine resources in Ghana.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo
Reporter: Laudia Anyorkor Nunoo, GNA
[email protected]