By
Kofi Adu Domfeh
A
five-point strategy has been developed to support local communities in Ghana to
conserve forests, mitigate climate change and sustain livelihoods.
The
strategies include fire prevention and control, establishment of plantations,
agro-forestry, education and awareness creation, and provision of sustainable
livelihood support systems.
Researchers
at the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) have, in the past one year,
engaged interest groups in the Offinso Forest District of Ashanti to deliberate
and agree on the strategies and action plan.
The
intervention is under study titled: “Strengthening Capacity for Reducing
Deforestation and Forest Degradation and Enhancing Environmental Services from
Forests (REDDES)”.
Project
Coordinator, Dr. Ernest Foli, says adoption and implementation of the
strategies, scheduled to take off from 2014, would help reverse deforestation
and degradation as well as help mitigate the impact of climate change.
The
study outcomes come on the heels of the landmark report by the UN's climate
panel that confirms climate change is caused by human emissions.
There
is compelling evidence in Ghana to give credence to the report, says Dr. Foli,
who heads the Ecosystem Services and Climate Change Unit of FORIG-CSIR and
serves on the National Climate Change Committee.
“People
here have agreed that the lost of forest is as a result of activities like
illegal chainsaw milling, unsustainable agriculture, bushfires and other
anthropogenic activities caused by human beings”, he observed. “And if the
forest cover is lost it means the capacity to reduce emission is also lost
because the forest has also proven to be a carbon sink”.
The
aim of the REDDES study is to build capacity of African countries – Ghana,
Nigeria, Liberia and Cameroon – to generate and disseminate information on
reducing deforestation to stakeholders, especially policy makers and local
communities.
The
project is spearheaded by the International Union of Forest Research
Organizations (IUFRO), the Forestry Research Network of Sub-saharan Africa
(FORNESSA) and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO).
Forestry
Officer at Offinso, Michael Sarpong, is confident the strategy would be
effective when implemented due to the direct involvement of local people in the
formulation process.
“The
communities play very crucial role in the management of the resource and we
have neglected them for some years now; it is them who normally go to the
reserve and carry on illegal activities. So when we bring them on board and
educate them about the need to protect the reserve, we believe it will go a
long way to protect the forest reserve,” he said.
Advanced
economies are believed to be causing the greatest part of global warming. But
people in developing countries are most vulnerable.
“Whilst
we are vulnerable and we don’t even have the resources to cope, it makes it
sensible for us to take steps that, at least, at the local level we don’t
deplete the forest so that we can get rain and when the rains come, they are
moderated”, noted Dr. Foli.
Meanwhile, Ghana has secured a $9.75
million Climate Investment Fund (CIF) to undertake a forestry programme that
generates financial and environment benefits to local communities.
The African Development Bank (AfDB)
supported the country to access the fund under the CIF’s Forest Investment
Programme (FIP).
The funds will enable Ghana to
undertake REDD+ projects in local communities and the enhancement of carbon
stocks (ELCIR+) project which will help reduce deforestation and forest
degradation.
No comments:
Post a Comment