Ghana has obtained $486.2 million as first payment from carbon sale.

This is as a result of a pilot project that was started in 2010 to store carbon in some selected forest reserves in the country as one of the potential ways to mitigate climate change.

Mr Andrew Okrah, Director of the Forestry Commission Training Center, located at Akyawkrom in the Ejisu Municipality of Ashanti, mentioned to the Ghanaian Times at the sideline of the 2022 end of year review and planning session of the Forest Research Institute of Ghana of the Council for Scientif­ic and Industrial Research (CSIR-FORIG).

It was on the theme, “Forestry Research for Sustainable Develop­ment”.

Carbon storage, also known as carbon sequestration, is a meth­od of capturing carbon dioxide emissions and storing them in coal seams, aquifers, depleted oil and gas reservoirs and other spaces deep under the surface of the earth.

Theoretically, this would prevent those gases from having an effect on climate.

Ghana with one of the high­est deforestation rates in Africa, became 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.

The sale of the carbon is a mechanism to provide an econom­ic incentive to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the Director, it was time for Ghana to take advantage of carbon trading saying “if on pilot bases such an amount could be obtained, then the sky could be a limit if seriousness was attached to projects for carbon emission re­ductions from the forest and land use sectors.”

He said the Forestry Commis­sion was working in close part­nership with other stakeholders to promote the plantations of climate smart species to reduce carbon emissions in the country.

Earlier, Mr Okrah, in a pre­sentation on Forest and Climate Change, noted that the national total forest reserve now was 6.5 million hectares, and efforts must be made to protect the forests.

He wondered why there were still talks about illegal mining (galamsey), illegal chainsaw, char­coal productions as some of the most common pressures causing deforestation and severe forest degradation.

The Director charged the CSIR-FORIG to come out with mea­sures to combat the menace for the betterment of the country.

Prof. Daniel A. Ofori, Director, CSIR-FORIG, highlighted plans to link up with small-scale carpenters to take advantage of the Insti­tute’s Wood and Furniture Testing Center to ensure products on the market were of quality and interna­tional standards.

According to Prof Ofori, the Center had now been accredited for conducting tests under ISO 17025.

Chairs and tables, he said, could be tested for their durability, stabil­ity and strength to determine the life span of the products and their ability to perform the functions for which they were designed.

He mentioned that the Insti­tute, under its livelihood impactful project, trained 684 persons in snail farming, mushroom culti­vation, bee keeping, tree nursery and briquettes production which would go a long way to reduce the pressure on the forests.