The Vice President, Dr. Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, has in Tamale – the Northern regional capital – launched the Ghana Shea Landscape Emission Reduction Project (GSLERP) to preserve the shea landscape across the country.
The project by the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources through the Ghana Forestry Commission is to help fight greenhouse gas emissions in the Northern Region, as well geared toward protecting the shea trees, creating jobs and enhancing production efficiency.
The Ghana Shea Landscape Emission Reductions project is a seven-year programme that cuts across all the five northern regions, for which Ghana signed an emissions reduction payment agreement for an amount of US$50million for 10 million tonnes of emission reduction with the World Bank.
The GSLERP – developed by the Forestry Commission, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Shea Alliance – was approved by the Green Climate Fund in August 2020 and is a component of the Ghana REDD+ strategy that has been developed to address the alarming situation in the transformation system in line with the national policy.
The US$30.1million grants and US$24.4million co-financing from the government of Ghana and private sector, being Global Shea Alliance, is to deliver 6.139 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in emission reduction and removal over the first seven years of the project lifetime.
Dr. Bawumia said the project will help reduce emissions at the cocoa and shea forest areas, and also reduce the financial constraints farmers’ encounter.
He said during the 26th meeting of the Global Climate Fund, which was held virtually in August 2021, the board approved the Ghana Shea nut emission project for an amount of US$54.5million.
He noted that the grant seeks to mitigate effects of climate change on the fragile ecosystem of the Northern Savannah landscape – and will provide a unique opportunity to engage on a bigger scale in the Shea commodity and its products in generating revenue and jobs for over 600,000 women and the producers.
Ghana is currently the fourth producer of Shea products in the world, and this project when implemented will change the industry with the planting of over 1.7 million Shea trees over the period.
The United Nations Development Programme Ghana Resident Representative, Dr. Angela Lusigi, reiterated the UNDP’s commitment to working with all its partners to support government in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in agriculture and climate change.
Chief Executive Officer for the Forestry Commission, John Allotey, said the Shea trees are being destroyed indiscriminately, so we want to find means and ways to protect it. “We will replace and plant more Shea trees. We also want to enhance the skills of women and girls in the shea value chain, which will create livelihood options and diversify income sources for the people in that particular landscape,” he said.
