Ghana receives $9.7m climate investment funds for forestry expansion
Ghana has secured an amount of $9.75 million from the Climate Investment Fund (CIF) to undertake a forestry programme, the African Development Bank (AfDB) who supported the country announced October 1, 2013.
The funds came from CIF’s Forest Investment Programme (FIP).
According to the AfDB, the funds will enable Ghana to undertake the Engaging Local Communities in REDD+/Enhancement of Carbon Stocks (ELCIR+) project which will help reduce deforestation and forest degradation, increase carbon stocks and reduce poverty by engaging communities in land management approaches that generate financial and environmental benefits for them.
“Twelve thousand people, half of them women, will receive capacity-building support, seeds and equipment, and financial incentives through benefit-sharing agreements to develop forestry, agroforestry and alternative livelihoods activities,” the AfDB said in a statement.
About 175,000 people are also expected to indirectly benefit from the project.
The Tunis-based lender indicated that the project will be piloted in the Western and Brong Ahafo regions.
“Approval of this project means that Ghana can exponentially ramp up sustainability of its forest sector and ensure that forest-related communities are both recipients and creators of effective and climate-smart economic solutions,” said Albert Mwangi, AfDB’s task manager for the project.
Established in 2008 as one of the largest fast-tracked climate financing instruments in the world, the $7.6 billion CIF provides developing countries with grants, concessional loans, risk mitigation instruments, and equity that leverage significant financing from the private sector, Multilateral Development Banks and other sources.
By Ekow Quandzie