Ghana, others benefit from $40b Asia low carbon initiative

Ghana and some other developing countries will benefit from a $40 billion Asia low carbon initiative to manage their forest resources.

The Calcutta News of India reports that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced plans to mobilize $40 billion to finance country-led low carbon growth. This initiative becomes one of the first international meetings to focus on climate finance since the end of the global climate change summit in Copenhagen last December.

At the end of the meeting Friday March 19, 2010 in Manila, the ADB’s Climate Investment Funds (CIF) made progress on support for developing countries to act on forests, renewable energies and building climate-resilient development. The countries to benefit from approved grants for the Forest Investment Programme (FIP)  are Ghana, Zambia, Nepal, Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Laos and Peru.

The FIP is designed to provide investments that help countries better manage their forests,and it also approved a consultation process for designing a special grant mechanism for indigenous peoples and local communities, the report added.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi