GHANA
Ghana Charcoal Project
The Ghana Charcoal project is a community-led wood fuel energy solution aimed at reducing deforestation mostly caused by cutting of trees for fuel, reducing rural poverty and increasing ecosystem resilience through the protection of natural vegetation from wildfires caused by traditional charcoal production. This project is a partnership with the local charcoal producers, community chiefs as well UNDP Small Grants Programme and Ghana Forest Services Division.
The project started in 2018 and is scheduled for 5-year implementation period (2018 – 2022) when the first trees planted will be harvested and converted to charcoal. We have established 3 charcoal production enterprises with improved steel metal kiln charcoal production technology within three communities: Maluwe, Baamlekura, and Baanikura in the Northern region of Ghana.
Benefits of the project
-
Reduce youth out migration from the communities
-
100 local people are engaged, 60 women and 40 men
-
250 farm families are involved in growing the fuelwood plantations
-
40 ha of degraded land unsuitable for agriculture has been used to grow the wood fuel plantations
-
20 ha of wood fuel plantation will be established in 2021
-
20 ha of wood fuel plantation will be established in 2022
-
Traditional charcoal kilns and uncontrolled burning has been banned in the three villages.
-
Cutting of trees and other biomass for charcoal production has been reduced, the vegetation along waterbodies are regenerating protecting soil and the watershed.
MAPPING SACRED FORESTS IN GHANA
This project is training local people to map and document their sacred forests. Sacred forests contain important biological and cultural resources, often not found elsewhere. The information generated will be used to create a GIS database that will be used to help local people meet their own objectives such as developing ecotourism businesses, accessing national programs and developing restoration projects.
The project will help local people develop governance systems and the sustainable utilization of non-timber resources from the sacred forest. The project will help with the establishment of a nursery of forest plants for restoration of degraded sites.
The project is expected to enable the local people to develop a self-financing nursery, establish eco-tourism businesses and seek payment for ecological services once the forests have been restored, documented and properly monitored.