President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says all efforts to stop deforestation and forest degradation in Ghana has his government’s support and backing.

This was made known when The President addressed attendees of the 2nd National REDD+ Forum under the theme: “Strengthening Law Enforcement for Effective REDD+ Implementation” and organized under the Auspices of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the Forestry Commission.

The President said every effort to arrest climate change is a priority to his administration.

He added that law enforcement agencies ought to collaborate more with the Forestry Commission and the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry to implement the laws that governor the management of the countries natural resources.

The REDD+ Programme

The the REDD+ programme is a United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries. It was launched in 2008 and builds on the convening role and technical expertise of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The UN-REDD Programme supports nationally led REDD+ processes and promotes the informed and meaningful involvement of all stakeholders, including indigenous peoples and other forest-dependent communities, in national and international REDD+ implementation.

Ghana and the REDD+ Programme

REDD+ denotes the suite of interventions that seek to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation whilst incorporating the role of conservation, sustainable forest management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries.

Countries that intend to undertake REDD+ activities are required to develop a national strategy that clearly articulates measures aimed at addressing the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation and other associated issues including land and tree tenure, forest governance, gender and safeguards.

Work towards development of a national REDD+ strategy for Ghana effectively commenced in 2008 when Ghana enlisted on the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) REDD+ Readiness Programme. The submission of A Readiness Plan Idea Note (R-PIN) and subsequent approval of Ghana’s REDD+ Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) in 2010 enabled Ghana to secure funding from the FCPF to support implementation of readiness activities commencing from 2012.

The R-PP serves as a blueprint for REDD+ readiness implementation and outlines the key processes, systems and frameworks which Ghana needs to complete in order to enable the country effectively implement the REDD+ mechanism. In preparation of Ghana’s R-PP, a thorough assessment of the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation was undertaken to guide the selection of 13 strategic options which were deemed suitable for addressing the identified drivers.

These strategic options were further analyzed during the strategy development process and resulted in the selection of the priority national and sub-national REDD+ programmes. Ghana’s REDD+ Strategy has been designed to meet the requirements of the Warsaw Framework on REDD+ and other decisions of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In developing the national REDD+ strategy, significant attention has been paid to national circumstances and developmental aspirations and the process also took due cognizance of major national policies including the national climate change policy (2013) and the revised forest and wildlife policy of Ghana (2012).