The deputy minister for Lands and Natural Resources responsible for Lands and Forestry, Benito Owusu-Bio has presented cheques for payment to beneficiaries of the first tranche of carbon payments for verified reductions from the Carbon Fund of the World Bank.
Ghana, through the Forestry Commission and with the support of its stakeholders has been a participant in the International Mechanism, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+) as part of global efforts to mitigate and adapt to Climate Change.
Addressing the gathering on behalf of the sector minister, Samuel A .Jinapor on Thursday, 20 July, the deputy Minister stipulated that Ghana is the second African country after Mozambique to receive REDD+ results- based payments from the Carbon Fund of the World Bank.
He explained that the Ghana Cocoa Forest Redd + program (GCFRP) is a means to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation, driven by expansionist Cocoa production activities, illegal mining, illegal logging and wood fuel extraction.
“The program anticipates that if these measures are done at a jurisdictional scale, about 10 million tonnes of emission reductions will be realized in six years”, he added.
Owusu-Bio indicated that 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 but hoped that stakeholders will help spread the word to promote the preservation of forests for other ecosystem function and support Government in the fight against all these illegal activities.
Simon Osei -Mensah, the Ashanti Regional Minister commended the efforts of the ministry under the auspices of the Forestry Commission with the implementation of the Cocoa Forest Redd+ and for chatting the path through sustainable development in Cocoa production in the country.
Osei-Mensah stressed that climate change remains the most fundamental threat to human lives globally, therefore the need to collectively change the approach to adopt measures to ensure sustainable development.
A representative from the World Bank Group, Madam Dashani Dasilvera speaking on behalf of the country director, Pierre Laporte urged the beneficiaries to continue to apply sustainable practices to improve livelihoods through the redd+ initiative.
She urged the communities and farmers to translate payments into much needed farming inputs and Community projects, anticipates to seeing Ghana move forward.
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