Ghana, with one of the highest deforestation rates in Africa has become the third country to sign a landmark agreement with the World Bank that rewards community efforts to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Ghana’s five-year Emission Reduction Payment Agreement (ERPA) with the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) Carbon Fund, which is administered by the World Bank, unlocks performance based payments of up to 50 million dollars for carbon emission reduction from the forest and land use sectors.
Mozambique and DR Congo have also signed ERPAs over the past ten months, with other Carbon Fund countries and are expected to sign similar agreements next year.
In Ghana, forest degradation and deforestation are driven primarily by cocoa farm expansion, coupled with logging and a recent increase in illegal mining.
Working in close partnership with the Forestry Commission, Cocoa Board, and the private sector, Ghana’s programme with the FCPF Carbon Fund seeks to reduce carbon emissions through the promotion of climate-smart cocoa production.
The programme’s two central goals, reducing carbon emissions in the forestry sector and producing truly sustainable, climate-smart cocoa beans make it unique in Africa and the first of its kind in the cocoa and forest sectors worldwide.
This programme is helping to secure the future of Ghana’s forests while enhancing income and livelihood opportunities for farmers and forest-dependent communities.
