Ghana reduces carbon emission to 970,000 tonnes in six months

The Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Programme (GCFRP) has helped in reducing carbon emission to a total of 970,000 metric tonnes within six months, Mr Daniel Amponsah Gyinayeh, the Chairman of the Asunafo-Asutifi Hotspot Intervention Area (HIA) Management Board has said.

He told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that the Board was under the GCFRP, saying the chalked between the months of June to December 2019.

Mr Gyinayeh was speaking to the GNA on the sidelines of the HIA Board’s first-quarter meeting, facilitated by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the UNDP and held at Goaso in the Ahafo Region.

He lauded the GCFRP for its roles in reducing the carbon footprint and supporting sustainable farming practices and livelihoods.

Mr Gyinayeh welcomed the involvement of the Green Commodities Programme (GCP), also funded by SECO-UNDP and lauded its impact on the local communities.

He expressed worry that the nation's forest was rapidly degrading through illegal chain-sawing, illegal mining, bush fires and other environmentally unfriendly activities; however, “the GCP program intervention in redressing the devastation has given us hope that the forest would be restored.”

“We hope that most of the degraded forest would be restored by the next five to 10 years”, Mr Gyinayeh added.

The GCFRP, funded by the World Bank, is an emission reduction payment initiative led by the Forestry Commission in collaboration with the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), civil society organizations (CSOs) and private sector actors.

The carbon payments program has directly supported over two million hectares across the six HIAs under the GCFRP, with funding for essential farm inputs, protective equipment, and community development projects.

The other HIAs are the Kakum HIA, Ahafo Ano Atwima Mponua-Atwima Nwabiagya HIA, Sefwi Wiawso Bibiani HIA, Juaboso-Bia and Atewa HIA.

“So far, more than $4 million and $16 million have been received in two separate payment cycles for the six HIAs”, Mr Gyinayeh stated, saying they have received the second round of carbon emission reduction payments amounting to over $4 million to Asunafo-Asutifi HIA alone.

It would be used to procure 80,000 wellington boots, 198,000 cutlasses, 200,000 economic tree seedlings, he stated.

Mr Gyinayeh explained that these resources will benefit 130,000 farmers, strengthening climate-smart cocoa production in the region.

The programme has not only reduced deforestation but also improved farmers' livelihoods, Madam Sarah Owusu, a cocoa farmer, has said and praised the initiative, stating that it had enhanced farmers’ skills in good agricultural practices.

Another farmer, Mr Tuah Yaw said the GCFRP support enabled him to venture into beekeeping and livestock farming, providing him with an alternative source of livelihood.

Mr Mathias Edetor, National Project Manager of SECO-UNDP GCP, urged the HIA Board to engage more with functional units of the governance structure and other HIAs to attract further investment in emission reduction efforts and sustainable agriculture.

GNA