GHANA

PROGRESS AGAINST THE WARSAW FRAMEWORK

NS/AP: Ghana’s REDD+ implementation efforts are guided by its National REDD+ Strategy (2016) and its Nationally Determined Contribution (2017). Ghana’s REDD+ Strategy has been designed to meet the requirements of the Warsaw Framework on REDD+ and other decisions of the UNFCCC. In developing the National REDD+ Strategy, significant attention has been paid to national circumstances and developmental aspirations. The process also considered major national policies, including the national climate change policy (2013) and the revised forest and wildlife policy of Ghana (2012). This strategy is envisaged as a 20-year working document and is subject to periodic review as new ideas and enhanced understanding of REDD+ emerge from research and on the-ground implementation of REDD+ activities in Ghana.

FREL/FRL: UN-REDD provided support to the in-country technical team in operating the Collect Earth/Open Foris tool. Moreover, Ghana revised its sub-national Forest Reference Emissions Level (FREL) and Forest Reference Level (FRL) Report in 2021, with support from the World Bank. Ghana also received technical guidance in upscaling the methodologies for developing sub national FRL to the national level from the Coalition for Rainforest Nations. The updated version is a step further on completeness and on the use of the sample approach for all activity data compared to partial use of country data mixed with other proxies and global datasets, as used in the 2017 submission.

NFMS: Ghana set up a REDD+ Monitoring Hub and submitted its First Monitoring Report to the Carbon Fund in 2021, with results for the second half of 2019. An initial transaction with the Carbon Fund is expected to be carried out in 2022. Ghana has reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation quite significantly against the 2005-2014 reference level.

SIS: The progress experienced in the past years, namely Ghana’s approach to safeguards, the country’s submission of its first summary of information to the UNFCCC and the development of the country’s safeguards information system (SIS) web platform can be accessed here. This information was considered and used as a basis for drafting the safeguards sections of both the LEAF proposal and the TREES Concept Note. An assessment of the safeguards requirements of TREES was also conducted; it allowed identifying progress and evidence for demonstrating conformance with certain TREES safeguards indicators, as well as determining gaps and further information needed to show conformance with other TREES safeguards indicators.

REDD+ IMPLEMENTATION

Forest solutions rewarded. Preliminary calculations indicate that Ghana may also have significantly reduced emissions against a TREES-compliant  reference level. Supported by UN-REDD, Ghana submitted a proposal to the LEAF Coalition in 2021 and successfullycompleted an initial technical screening process led by a panel of technical experts. It was selected as one of the forerunners to engage with the LEAF Coalition. A Letter of Intent was negotiated and signed in Glasgow with Emergent, the LEAF financial representative, during COP26 in November, 2021. Ghana has also submitted a TREES Concept Note and has designated a jurisdictional area for LEAF engagement. Other partners already engaged with the Forestry Commission (FC) are interested in developing large-scale mitigation programmes in the ecozones designated in the National REDD+ Strategy.

Specific activities included:

CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, the UN-REDD team was unable to organize missions in Ghana, but was able to effectively engage with the Forestry Commission and its Directorate of Climate Change to assist in delivering its LEAF proposal to Emergent, a significant achievement for Ghana.

Ghana has made great strides in implementing its REDD+ Strategy and has a large portfolio of projects and programmes. However, the national agencies have limited ability to advance in a timely manner on new opportunities like LEAF. A mix of targeted and well-organized virtual meetings provided the information required to help Ghana successfully submit a proposal to LEAF and sign an LoI at the time of the Glasgow Climate Change Conference in late 2021.

GENDER AND SOCIAL INCLUSION

Ghana has developed a National Gender Policy (2015) and a Gender and REDD+ Roadmap (2011). As work in 2021 focused on specific parameters for proposal development, a specific gender plan was not yet developed, however this will be required going forward in order to identify gender explicit actions. This will be a requirement for any programme implementation going forward. For example, Ghana has developed a Gender Action Plan for the Ghana Shea Landscape Emission Reduction Project.

Stakeholder engagement was limited to the national institutions.

The ART-TREES programme area will be larger than the GCFRP, and stakeholder engagement for the additional areas will need to be undertaken. This activity can replicate the tested approach in Hotspot Intervention Areas (HIAs) and lead up to the signature of agreements to implement activities.

Discussion with stakeholders in existing and additional HIAs will need to include a review of the benefit-sharing plan in relation to its applicability for LEAF. In this manner, Ghana will build on substantive past efforts to ensure that a socially inclusive approach will be undertaken to develop the implementation and benefit-sharing plans under LEAF.

PARTNERSHIPS

The work carried out in 2021 benefited from the GCFRP project that is being implemented with funding from the World Bank. The GCFRP is expressly relevant as the LEAF area includes the High Forest Zone in GCFRP. Ghana has built on this project for the proposal submitted to the LEAF Coalition in the following ways: the stakeholder engagement structures and approach through Hotspot Intervention Areas, institutional framework, the national safeguards framework, forest monitoring and the recently crafted benefit-sharing plan.

LINKAGES TO SDGS

Implementation of Ghana’s REDD+ Strategy and the development of partnerships, such as with the LEAF Coalition, are designed to ensure positive impacts with respect to institutional strengthening and policy implementation, community benefits and ecosystem protection, restoration and resilience.