By Florence Afriyie Mensah
Akyawkrom (Ash), July 21, GNA – The government has disbursed the first carbon payments, under the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Programme (GCFRP) to the agreed programme beneficiaries.
The Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and additional forest related activities that protect the climate (REDD+) programme, is a global initiative aimed at promoting sustainable management of forests and the conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stock.
Ghana in 2019, signed the Emission Reduction Purchase Agreement with the World Bank to deliver 10 million tons of carbon dioxide at a price of five dollars per ton, within a six-year period, thus – 2019 to 2024.
The first tranche of the payment by the World Bank, which was $4.8 million was in respect of Ghana’s ability to reduce emissions by 972,456 tons between June and December 2019.
The beneficiaries were farmers and farmer groups from the Asutifi-Asunafo, Ahafo Ano, Juaboso, Sehwi-Wiawso and Kakum, which are considered as hotspot intervention areas in Ghana.
Other beneficiaries were the district assemblies within the hotspot intervention areas, the COCOBOD, Forestry Commission and civil society organizations under the programme.
Mr. Benito Owusu-Bio, Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, who presented the cheques to the beneficiaries at Akyawkrom in the Ejisu Municipality, said the amount was part of the total of $50 million, which the World Bank had earmarked for the programme in Ghana for the six-year period.
He said the amount was being disbursed to the various beneficiaries of the programme in line with the agreed GCFRP Benefit Sharing Plan.
Mr Owusu-Bio indicated that it was a wonderful feat achieved by Ghana, being the second African country after Mozambique, to receive REDD+ results-based payments from the Carbon Fund of the World Bank.
In line with the 2012 Forest and Wildlife Policy and as the premier programme in Ghana’s REDD+ Strategy launched in 2016, the GCFRP seeks to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation, driven by expansionist cocoa production activities, illegal mining, illegal logging and wood fuel extraction.
The programme anticipates that if the measures are done at a jurisdictional scale, about 10 million tons of emission reductions will be realized in six years.
The non-carbon benefits are direct increases in cocoa yield and other food crops production and provision of alternative livelihoods, while the carbon payments represent negotiated carbon payments for third party verified emission reductions.
Mr Owusu-Bio noted that the impact of the programme on individual livelihoods and the expected trickling down effect would significantly improve the living standards of households of participating farmers in the programme areas, culminating in enhanced local economies.
He said the success of the programme was adequate proof that indeed agricultural production could be enhanced by adopting more climate friendly and scientifically proven methods without necessarily expanding acreage and endangering forests and biodiversity.
The Deputy Minister said, “even though we celebrate this milestone today, Ghana’s forest resources continue to face pressures from agricultural expansion, unsustainable logging,
excessive wood harvesting for charcoal production and firewood, illegal mining, wildfires and poaching”.
He stressed the need to promote the preservation of forests for other ecosystem functions such as carbon sequestration, which would produce carbon payments, rather than destroying the very resources the country had been blessed with for now and future generations.
GNA