Project/activity information

The potential of forestry-related Clean Development Mechanism (CDM-Forestry) in western Africa is very significant as large areas of the region’s forests have been degraded via over-aggressive, non-sustainable logging practices, slash-and-burn agricultural practices, and conversion of forests to alternative crops such as cocoa, and are so, therefore, eligible for CDM reforestation projects. Therefore, the relevance to develop the capacity to conduct CDM-Forestry projects with a strong poverty-alleviation component.

The project intends to develop the capacity for CDM-Forestry in Ghana via a community rehabilitation of Ghana’s degraded forests targeted at poverty alleviation in conjunction with sustainable forest management (SFM), and by involving the private sector and native communities. The specific objective of the project is to improve capacity for CDM-Forestry in Ghana via a community forest targeted at poverty alleviation in conjunction with SFM.

Expected outputs are:

- Carbon stocks of the current OCAP 450 ha project will be determined using GPS-supported comprehensive and complete measurement of all trees in the project;
- Mass spectrophotometric analysis will be done on wood samples from up to 5 trees each of the 19 tree species planted;
- A degraded forest (450 ha) will be reforested with the OCAP model using highly productive timber species;
- Comprehensive socioeconomic studies will be conducted in the communities involved in the project;
- Capacity to conduct CDM forestry will be built with post graduate training of Ghanian students; and
- Community-based CDM forestry methodology will be developed for the OCAP project.