Ghana’s readiness preparation proposal suggests that one of the major weaknesses of the forest management framework is the lack of an appropriate mechanism to incentivize the conservation of native trees in off-reserve areas. REDD+ offers an opportunity for the requisite policy reforms and incentive scheme to be put in place to confront and overcome the driving factors that account for forest loss in off-reserve areas. The studies underlying this report were carried out in the framework of REDDES, a programme of the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) that aims to strengthen capacities in selected countries to maintain and enhance the environmental services provided by tropical forests. The project sought to identify strategies that simultaneously reverse agriculture’s adverse effects on forests and trees and enhance the environmental services that off-reserve forests and trees provide. The report aims to contribute to the development of approaches that generate short-term revenues in combination with longer-term gains from tree resources.
The report describes the outcomes of empirical and literature studies exploring the potential of off-reserve REDD+ in Ghana. Section 2 introduces the concept of REDD+, explores the opportunities for REDD+ in off-reserve areas in Ghana, and discusses the concept of benefit-sharing. Section 3 describes the core results of the studies carried out under the project, all of which took place in, or reference, the potential pilot areas defined in the REDD+ readiness preparation proposal Ghana is preparing in the framework of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. Two studies assess farmers’ views on the potential effects of REDD+ in their areas and the incentives that would motivate them to include (more) trees in their systems—thus allowing the development of concrete proposals for REDD+ implementation in Ghana. Other studies compare the performance of different land-use systems in increasing carbon stocks and farmer income; analyze the costs and benefits of potential pilot projects focusing on shea trees and essential-oil production; and assess the extent to which experiences in cocoa certification standards could be applied to the introduction of REDD+ projects in cocoa-growing areas.
Section 4 of sheds light on the ongoing and dynamic process of REDD+ implementation in Ghana, including the development of a legal framework for managing carbon rights in the country. Concluding remarks outline the way forward, from a policy perspective, for REDD+ pilot implementation in Ghana for the benefit of people and the land. While REDD+ implementation represents challenges, it is also a chance to obtain assistance in securing, for the current and future generations, the ecosystem services provided by forests and trees, including climate-change mitigation.