Ghana: World Bank Signs Agreement to Reduce Carbon Emissions and Reduce Deforestation

Ghana – with one of the highest rates of deforestation in Africa – has become the third country to sign a landmark agreement with the World Bank that rewards communities' efforts to reduce carbon emissions resulting from deforestation and forest degradation.

The Agreement on Emission Reduction Payments (ERPA) between Ghana and the Carbon Fund for the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), administered by the World Bank, provides for performance-based payments ranging from up to $ 50 million for reducing carbon emissions from forests and forests. land use sectors. Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo have also signed ERPAs in the last 10 months. Other countries of the Carbon Fund are expected to sign similar agreements over the next year.

In Ghana, forest degradation and deforestation are mainly due to the expansion of cocoa farms, logging and the recent increase in illegal mining activities. Working in close partnership with the Forestry Commission, the Cocoa Council and the private sector, Ghana's program with the FCPF Carbon Fund aims to reduce carbon emissions by promoting climate-smart cocoa production.

"The two main objectives of the program – to reduce carbon emissions in the forest sector and to produce truly sustainable and climate-smart cocoa beans – make it unique in Africa and the first of its kind in the cocoa and cocoa sectors. the forest in the world. This program helps secure the future of Ghana's forests while improving the livelihoods and livelihoods of farmers and forest-dependent communities, "said Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, director of the Ghana Forestry Commission.

In Ghana's ERPA, the FCPF Carbon Fund commits to making the first payments based on results for a reduction of 10 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions (up to $ 50 million). The Ghana ERPA also specifies the base prices of carbon emissions, the price per ton of CO avoided.₂ emissions, and a benefit-sharing mechanism that has been prepared based on extensive consultations with local stakeholders and civil society organizations across the country.

Ghana's Emissions Reduction Program is anchored in the national strategy for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD +) and is well aligned with relevant national policies and strategies, including the Agenda for Growth and Ghana's Shared Development Plan, the National Policy on Climate Change, the National Forest and Wildlife Policy, the National Policy on Gender Equality and Ghana's Determined Contributions to the UN Framework Convention on the Rights of the Child United Nations on Climate Change.

The Ghana Emissions Reduction Program Area, located in the south of the country, covers nearly 6 million hectares (ha) of the biodiversity hotspot of West African forest and forest Guinean. The wider program area covers 1.2 million ha of forest reserves and national parks and is home to 12 million people.

The increase in cocoa production has always resulted in more forest being cut down to accommodate new cocoa plants, but this trend could be reversed. Under this program, the government will focus on certain sensitive deforestation areas and help farmers and communities increase cocoa production in that country by using climate-smart approaches. A more sustainable cocoa crop will help prevent the expansion of cocoa farms in forests and generate more predictable income for communities. These combined actions will help Ghana meet its national climate commitments under the Paris Agreement.

This work builds on the support of other initiatives, including World Bank programs focused on forest rehabilitation, social inclusion, climate-smart agriculture, and sustainable land and forest management. of water. The program is also working closely with the Cocoa and Forests Initiative.

More than 30 consultations, meetings and workshops with stakeholders from more than 40 institutions were organized for program planning, design and validation. Planto raises awareness among stakeholders about the key role that women play in the sustainable use of land and their right to benefit equally from results-based payments.

"It's exciting to see the level of stakeholder engagement that Ghana has achieved with its emissions reduction program, particularly with the private sector. Some of the world's largest cocoa and chocolate companies, including members of the World Cocoa Foundation, such as Mondelēz International, Olam, Touton and others, and the Cocoa Board of Ghana have committed to participate in the program. "said Pierre Frank Laporte, country director at the World Bank for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The Cocoa & Forests initiative is an active engagement of the major cocoa producing countries and leading chocolate and cocoa companies to end deforestation and restore forest areas, by avoiding further conversion of forest land to cocoa production.

— The World Bank