Beginning January 2010, Ghana will join in efforts of mitigating climate change by implementing an ambitious nationwide aforestation project that also seeks to bridge the unemployment gap confronting the country.

Climate change effects are already wrecking lives in Ghana, and the rest of the African continent. It is seriously having a rippling effect on the people, especially those in rural communities where various streams serving as a source of drinking water have dried up, because of lack of trees to serve as a cover for these waterbodies.

The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the body that regulates and enact policies for the country’s natural resources and forest reserves, will launch a National Forest Plantation Development Program (NFPDP) in January, to avert the declining trend of its forest reserve.

The Minister for Lands and National Resources, Collins Dauda, told The Chronicle in an interview, that the objective of the program is to increase its tree cover through massive recruitment of reforestation ‘work gangs’ who are mostly unemployed youth, to improve environmental quality, reduce the wood deficit situation, and provide avenues for the country to tap the emerging benefits from climate change, under the Clean Development Mechanism and Carbon Sequestration.

Ghana’s 8.2 million hectares of forest reserve a century ago, has declined to a current 1.5 million hectares.

A fortnight ago, the BBC reported that 90% of Ghana’s forests had been degraded since it attained independence in 1957, leaving only 10%, which is also under pressure by the local people.

The initiative towards a greener environment, The Chronicle learnt, has received cabinet approval, and is waiting to be developed for its implementation. The program involves the establishment of plantations in all districts of Ghana, on the basis of availability of degraded land for forest plantation development.

So far, over 400,000 hectares of land had been identified and mapped out by the Forestry Commission for degraded forest reserves.

But, as to whether land litigation matters will not impede the acceleration of the project, Collins Dauda answered in negative.

He told The Chronicle that because of land litigation issues in the country, all the District Assemblies were in touch with the chiefs and people, who are main custodians of the land, to avoid any dispute.

“Since the program has been designed to cover all districts in Ghana, and many districts may not have forest reserves, the option will be to negotiate with landowners for off-reserve areas to be planted. In connection to this, District Assemblies will lead the negotiation process. The land, in this case, will not be acquired by government, but special arrangements will be made with the landowners for the sharing of the benefits from such plantation areas,” says Collins Dauda, adding, “some landowners have already demarcated some parcels of land for the project, and so far, the results from the District Assemblies are encouraging.”

The project will take effect in 100 districts in 2010, where it is expected to create about 300 jobs in each of the districts. It will further be expanded in 2011 and beyond, to take care of the remaining 70 districts, where it is again expected to create employment for over 19,000 people.

Names of the districts to benefit from the project are not known, but the project is believed to kick-off in one of the districts in the Brong-Ahafo Region.

The approach towards the initiative includes woodlot establishment, planting of fruits trees, rehabilitation of mangrove forests, urban forestry and fire management, and would be carried out in both degraded and outside forest reserves.

The approach, according to the Land and Natural Resources Minister, would vary from district to district, but those in the three northern regions are likely to benefit from fruit plantation.

1% of the country’s budget has been earmarked for the project, including other sources like mining levy, HIPC Funds, District Assemblies Common Fund, Plantation Development Fund, NREG and the Minerals Development Fund.

Source: Ghanaian Chronicle

Tags: climate change, employment, going green