Ghana deploys nature-based solutions to tackle climate change

Ghana has developed an ambitious sub-national emission reduction programme covering the 5.9 million hectare cocoa-forests mosaic landscape in its southern part.

It expects to generate about 598.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents in emission reductions, over the life of its Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus (REDD+) programme.

Madam Roselyn Fosuah Adjei, the Director of Climate Change and National REDD+ Coordinator at the Forestry Commission, announced these at a side event, organised by Ghana with support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the Climate Change Conference in Spain.

REDD+ is an international initiative that seeks to provide incentives to forest nations to sustainably manage forest to protect the global climate and support the well-being forest dependent communities.

The UNDP was supporting the Forestry commission to replicate a REDD+ programme in the Shea landscape, Madam Adjei said, adding, “This will form a major part of Ghana’s contribution to global efforts to close the ambition gap before and after 2020”.

She explained that Ghana was deploying nature-based solutions to tackle climate change in the forestry sector as part of its climate action strategies.

It has, consequently, placed a ban on illegal mining and taken the necessary steps towards reversing destroyed water bodies, vegetation and forests.

Some 60,000 young people had been employed to help restore degraded lands, and they have, so far, planted 24 million trees covering an area of 190,000 hectares.

Since the ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change continues to be on top of the National Development Agenda.

As part of efforts to contribute to reducing global warming, Ghana has made enormous strides in the implementation of REDD+.