Ghana's Institutional and Governance Arrangements for REDD+Yaw Kwakye（Forestry Commision, Ghana）

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Ghana’s Institutional and Governance Arrangements for REDD+Yaw Kwakye (Forestry Commission, Ghana)

PROFILE OF YAW KWAKYE• Manager at the Climate Change Unit of the Forestry Commission of
Ghana, which also serves as the National REDD+ Secretariat• Yaw joined the Forestry Commission in 1994 upon successful
completion of a bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources
Management at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science andTechnology• He served in various capacities at the Forestry Commission before
his current appointment, including District Forest Manager in theWestern and Eastern Regions, Project Coordinator for the GEF‐
funded High Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project, as well as
Projects Manager for the Forest Services Division.
• Yaw has participated in several international conferences on
climate change and REDD
• He has special professional interest in climate change andbiodiversity• His interests include music, reading and swimming• He is married, with three sons

GHANA'S INSTITUTIONAL AND
GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS
FOR REDD+
INTERNATIONAL REDD+ SEMINAR
University of Tokyo, Feb 3‐4 2015

YAW KWAKYE
MANAGER,
CLIMATE CHANGE UNIT/NATIONAL REDD+ SECRETARIAT,FORESTRY COMMISSION, GHANA

I would like to start by thanking the organizers for the opportunity to be part of this learning event.
This is my second invitation to Japan. The first time I came on a training program on national forest
monitoring.

This morning I will be speaking on the topic relating to Ghana’s institutional and governancearrangements for REDD+ and how those who want to relate this to REDD finance arrangements in Ghana,
how finances coming to Ghana are going to be channeled effectively for the desired results.

OUTLINE• Background Country Information• Ghana’s REDD+ Readiness Process• Towards Realizing REDD+• REDD+ Governance: Experiences and Challenges• Key initiatives that seek to enhance transparency
and good governance in Ghana• Conclusion

I will just give a quick introduction with country information, and then we will look at Ghana’s
REDD readiness process and how it is progressing.

Then, on towards realizing REDD, I would also want topick up some of the issues that we discussed yesterday during presentations by various speakers, making
references to Ghana’s emerging emission reduction program that is focusing on the Cocoa Forest Mosaic
Landscape in Ghana.

Then, you look at REDD governance and the various arrangements.

We will look at

the contexts, the experiences and then the challenges. I will also talk briefly about some key initiatives
currently underway in Ghana.

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1. Background Country Information

BACKGROUND COUNTRY INFO
• Ghana is a West African democratic
state with a land area of 23.9 million
ha. and a population of
approximately 24 million people• Largely agrarian economy, as well as
key extractive industries i.e.
minerals, timber and lately off‐shore
oil and gas• Two broad ecological zones; HighForest and Savanna, and a fast‐
expanding Transition Zone
• 80% of Ghana’s forest cover lost overa period of a century (1900‐2000)

Ghana is located in West Africa.

We are a democratic country.

We have a land area of 23.9

million hectares and a population of approximately 24 million people; 49% women and 51% men.

Oureconomy is largely agrarian, meaning that we rely more on agricultural activities, both arable and animalhusbandry. Also we have a very longstanding extractive industry, particularly mining and timber, largely
tropical hardwoods.

We have two broad ecological zones.

in the south, we have the High Forest zone.

In the north, we have the Savanna eco-zone andBetween the two, we have a fast-growing transition zone asdegradation continues and as the Sahelian conditions intrude down south into the forest zone.

Currently, we

have just about 20% of our forest standing, meaning that since the turn of the century from 1900 up-to-date,
we have lost quite a huge chunk of our forest, about 80%. Therefore, deforestation is quite a big issue in
Ghana.

2. Ghana’s REDD+ Readiness Process

GHANA’S REDD+ READINESS PROCESS•

Ghana’s REDD+ Readiness wasformally launched in 2012 and isbeing supported by the Forest
Carbon Partnership Facility.

•

First phase of REDD+ Readiness was
successfully completed in 2014 anda second phase commences this
year.

•

Complementary
initiatives
forGhana’s REDD+ Readiness include
VPA‐FLEGT, FIP, NREG etc.

•

Ghana is developing an Emissions
Reduction programme that seeks tosignificantly curb carbon emissions
from the cocoa sector in a
programmatic approach

Just to give a little bit of context on Ghana’s REDD Readiness process, our REDD Readinessprocess was officially launched in 2012. It is being supported by the FCPF.

Our readiness program idea

note (R-PIN) was approved by the World Bank in mid-2010, but the funds finally arrived in 2012 in June.
That was when we began work in earnest.
The first phase has just been successfully completed in the previous year 2012.

We have justreceived further support from the World Bank for the second phase of our readiness so that we cansuccessfully complete our readiness process.

Ghana's Institutional and Governance Arrangements for REDD+Yaw Kwakye（Forestry Commision, Ghana）

There are a whole lot of complementary initiatives for Ghana’s REDD+ process.
process is not just standalone.
EU FLEGT1.

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The readinessWe are moving along with other important initiatives back home in Ghana, theThere is the forest investment program, and then also we have the donor sponsored sector

budgetary support, which is the Natural Resources and Environmental Governance Programme2 (NREG).
Along the way, Ghana is also developing an emission reduction program that seeks to curb emissions
from the cocoa sector in a programmatic subnational approach.
of Ghana largely. The schematic, we have here.
formulated in early 2007 all the way to 2008.

This initiative is focusing on the western part

Both are actually similar.

We have the R-PIN, which was

By 2009, our R-P3P was fully developed and then we began theimplementation.
If you look at the second schematic, we point to the fact that we have made progress up to this stage
by September.

In September/October we should be presenting our readiness package which is more likeputting together all of the progress made up to this stage to the World Bank before we actually begin to fully
implement our emission reduction program, which we are beginning to develop starting from March of thisyear.

3. Towards Realizing REDD+TOWARDS REALIZING REDD+• Ghana’s Vision for REDD+ is to significantly reduce
emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
by 40% over the next ten years, whilst at the same time
addressing threats that undermine ecosystem services
and environmental integrity• This will be pursued through a 3‐pronged strategy; Strategic Intervention 1: Improving Land‐use and socio‐
economic development in the High Forest Zone and cocoa
growing areas.
 Strategic Intervention 2: Addressing wood harvesting andagricultural practices in the ‘transition’ and savannah zone.
 Strategic Intervention 3: Policy and legislative reforms to
support REDD+ and a sustainable Forestry sector.

Just to give us a little sense of what Ghana’s vision for REDD looks like, the aim is to significantly
reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation by 40% over a 10-year period, while at the sametime addressing threats that undermine ecosystem services and environmental integrity.
The strategy that we are employing is 3-pronged;we have three strategic intervention areas.

One isimproving land use and socioeconomic development in the High Forest Zone of Ghana, particularly looking at
the cocoa growing areas.

This is because cocoa in a very significant way accounts or has contributed

significantly to deforestation and forest degradation.
encroachments into gazetted forest reserves.
with.

In some cases, there have been very serious

That is one very important degradation threat that we are faced

Let me just tell you a little bit more about how this whole thing is evolving and the role of private

sector in this initiative.

Over a period of 100 years since formal forestry institutions were established inForest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade: http://www.euflegt.efi.int/home/
http://www.fcghana.org/page.php?page=303&section=28&typ=1
3 Readiness Preparation Proposal
1
2

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Ghana, along the way, what we call the Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board was also established.
decades, the two institutions have done very little at working together.

For all theseWe have worked separately without any

coordination in our activities. That has largely contributed to the state of our forest today.
We have come to a juncture that we have reached an understanding that the two institutions need tocome together and start putting our efforts and our energies together to address deforestation resulting fromcocoa expansion.

Our cocoa production systems are not intensive. Rather, they are expansive.

People justslash and bend the forests and then cultivated for a few years and when yield started declining, they move on to
deforest more lands.

That is one problem.

When this discussion started, we engaged the private sector.

They also came to the understanding

that, if we continue in this business as usual pathway, there will be serious implications for the future of theindustry. There is a growing understanding that we have a common interest to make sure that we try to
mitigate or we work together to address the emissions coming out of the cocoa sector.
How do we even finance this? The cocoa industry in Ghana is worth USD$2 billion.

Now, thethinking is that, even if the industry agrees (and this is something the industry is considering very seriously) todedicate just 2.5% of that sum to addressing emission reductions and to encourage farmers to adopt climate
smart production methods, then we will be able to in a very major way address this issue.
So 2.5% of the sum of the worth of this industry comes to about USD$50 million per annum.
is USD$20 million.

1%

Therefore the five years under this particular initiative, the carbon fund, under the FCPF,

is providing Ghana $50 million US over a five-year period. This means that, even with 1% allocation of theseresources wisely spent to protect the industry and to ensure that we have more sustainable cocoa supply chains,the industry’s interest of securing and guaranteeing the future of the cocoa industry will be very muchpreserved. The government interest in ensuring that cocoa continues to provide sustainable livelihoods will
also be served. Then, also the various institutions that are responsible for these institutions would also
continue to stay in business.

Here, we have a convergence of all these interests.

4. REDD+ Governance: Experiences and Challenges

REDD+ GOVERNANCE• Good governance is recognized as
an important bedrock for criticalfor achieving REDD+.
• It encompasses Legality (rules tocheck abuses and resolve
conflicts); Legitimacy (acceptanceand trust by stakeholders that
ensure accountability); andParticipation (inclusiveness indecision‐making)

Legality

Legitimacy

Participation

On the issue of REDD governance in Ghana, we look at it from three different perspectives. The
issue of legality: that is the body of laws and regulations, or the rules that govern the sector in which we
operate.

Then, there is the issue of legitimacy: acceptance and trust by stakeholders that ensure accountability,Ghana's Institutional and Governance Arrangements for REDD+Yaw Kwakye（Forestry Commision, Ghana）

and then the authority to actually represent.

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Participation: talking about expanding the space for all of the key

stakeholders to play their role and to engage in the process where no particular group is marginalized or leftoutside the door.

PRINCIPLES & ELEMENTS OF
GOVERNANCE FOR REDD+
Accountability
Effectiveness
Efficiency
Equity/Fairness
Participation

Institutional, Policy,
Legal and
Regulatory
Frameworks

Planning
and Policy‐
makingProcesses

Implementa‐
tion
Enforcement
andComplianceTransparency

CREDIT: FAO/WB, 2011

This is also our understanding of the principles and elements of good governance for REDD, andwe have adopted the FAO model. The principles are actually listed: accountability; effectiveness in terms ofactually working towards achieving results for all the investments that are made; efficiency, are we using andapplying these resources in a judicious manner for the resource we want to generate; equity; fairness;participation; and then transparency, or doing things in the sunlight. As we know, sunlight disinfects, anddarkness causes decay. As much as possible we want to perceive all these principles and make sure that they
are actually very well respected in the way we implement REDD in Ghana.

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

Stakeholder engagement andparticipation has been very
extensive during Ghana’s
REDD+ Readiness process.
The process has been guided
by a Consultation andParticipation Plan and a
Communication Strategy that
adopts a variety of
approaches for enhanced
awareness and action

Let me delve a little bit into the various policies, legal, and regulatory frameworks that have been put
in place to ensure that we are able to achieve REDD. We have a set up as indicated here. At the very top
level, we have Environment and Natural Resources Advisory Council (ENRAC).
level of policy.

It is actually a cabinet-level entity.

This entity is at the very top

We have the technical coordinating committee, which isalso one of the very high level bodies responsible for providing leadership and supervision of activities relating
to climate change and the environment in general in Ghana.
Then we have the national REDD working group.

This national REDD working group is also

constituted by various stakeholder groups that are there to ensure that we are able to implement REDD in a

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manner that is very comprehensive and achieves the results that are desirable. Then, we have the national
REDD secretariat, which is part of the Forestry Commission of Ghana. The national REDD Secretariat is
actually the link between the national REDD working group and all these subcommittees that are listed here.
We have the policy and our legislation review: SESA4 sub-working group; the National REDD Consultation,
sub-working Group; REDD pilot projects, sub-working group; or the REDD Demonstration, sub-working
Group; the MRV and reference emission level sub-working group; and then the M&E5 sub-working group.

POLICY ENVIRONMENT
•

•

•

•

•

The existing national policy and strategy frameworks
provide a good basis for implementation ofenvironmental initiatives including REDD+.
Ghana’s current development blueprint, GSGDA,
articulates the commitment of government toaddress climate change as a matter of priority.
The revised Forest and Wildlife Policy (2012)
recognise REDD+ as essential for Ghana’s Low
Carbon Growth and Sustainable Forest Management
Agenda.
The National Renewable Energy Policy has also beenpromulgated, aimed at sustainable fuelwood supply
and consumption
Two national policy documents—the National
Climate Change Policy (NCCP) and the revised
National Environment Policy were launched by the
President in mid‐2014

Regarding the policy framework, Ghana has adequate or near adequate policies in place.

However,lately we have also introduced a few more policies that are actually directly addressing the issue of climatechange.

Our president launched last year the National Climate Change Policy and it was actually launchedformally in mid-2012. All of the other interventions or all the other policies relating to climate change, forinstance, renewable energy policy and all those things relates directly to this very policy.

OTHER REDD+ POLICY ISSUES• The frameworks dealing with Strategic Social andEnvironmental Assessment (SESA), Grievance
Redress Mechanisms, Benefit Sharing andMonitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV)
have been developed and implementation
initiated within the boundaries of the National
REDD+ Strategy• Grass‐root participation in landuse planning andpolicy making processes is critical for broad
stakeholder buy‐inThen, also there are other REDD policy issues that have been weighed in on over the past few years
under the readiness process.

Some of these components are social and environmental strategic assessments;

the grievance redress mechanism; benefit sharing options that have also been presented for stakeholders toconsider and negotiate upon to see how it benefits agreement from REDD in future will be distributed.
Implementation of all these things, including the MRV, would be implemented within the limitations of the45Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment
Monitoring and Evaluation

Ghana's Institutional and Governance Arrangements for REDD+Yaw Kwakye（Forestry Commision, Ghana）

REDD strategy.

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About finalizing it, we have received the final draft from the consultant, and we wantstakeholder validation before we can formally approve it.

LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS
•
•

•
•

•

Ghana has signed onto several international environmental treaties
including CITES; UNFCCC, CBD etc. and has consequently put inplace national policies and legislation to meet these commitments.
It is well acknowledged that the legal regime for REDD+ isinadequate and this deficiency will be addressed as the mechanism
evolves over time. Particularly carbon property rights will need to
be clearly established.
Robust legal measures will be needed to ensure accountability with
future cash inflows from REDD activities
In 2015, preliminary studies on financial management
arrangements for REDD+ and Alternative Dispute Resolution will becommissioned as a step toward enactment of REDD‐related laws in
the near future.
Steps are being taken to strengthen Law enforcement in the land
use sector to check illegal logging and mining activities

On the legal and regulatory framework, we believe that we need robust legal measures to ensureaccountability with future cash flows from REDD activities.

As part of our activities lined up for this year,

we are actually going to commission two studies. One has to do with studies on financial management
arrangements for REDD+ and then also alternative dispute resolution.

SOME KEY POINTSENABLERS• Strong democratic culture• Vibrant civil society• Incentives and sanctions forcompliance• Political will andcommitment• Capacity building• Sound information/datamanagement (REDD+
Registry etc.)

BARRIERS
Resistance to change
Low levels of awareness
Civic indifference
Lack of institutional capacity
at different levels• Absence of third party
performance audits• Poor expectation
management

•
•
•
•

There are a few key points that I want us to look at based on our own experiences.
at the enablers of good governance and then the barriers to good governance.

We have looked

For the enablers, we believethat a very strong democratic culture as we have today is a very good positive enabler, as is a vibrant civilsociety that we have in Ghana, luckily. Incentives and sanctions for compliance: these are also very importantenablers.
Political commitment and capacity building we believe are very key.
information or data management.

Then we have sound

For instance, the REDD registry, which is more like a repository of dataon REDD including safeguards as well as actual carbon stocks data and so on and so forth. Whatbarriers?

are

the

Resistance to change: for instance, institutions still stuck in their old ways of doing things.

Lowlevels of awareness, civic indifference, lack of institutional capacity, and also for expectation management.

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5. Key initiatives that seek to enhance transparency and good governance in Ghana
KEY INITIATIVES THAT SEEKS ENHANCE TRANSPARENCY AND
GOOD GOVERNANCE IN GHANA’S REDD+ PROCESSREDDX• REDDX–
eXpenditures

REDD+• Annual
Initiative
undertaken by NCRC andForestry
Commission
since 2011
• Purpose is to provide
transparent and reliable
information on financial
flows for REDD+ activities
in Ghana• Extractive
Industries
Transparency Initiative

There are a few other initiatives that are ongoing that we would also want to allude to. There is the
REDDX6 expenditures program which is also meant for tracking inflows of REDD finance into Ghana.
Then, there is the extractive industry transparency initiative and annual reports that actually also follow the
Ghana’s issues in the extractive industry.

CONCLUSION• Good governance practice engenders trust, broad
stakeholder acceptance and sense of ownershipamong different stakeholders, and reduces the risksof conflict or failure of REDD+ projects.
• Ghana has made modest progress in REDD+
Readiness particularly on issues related to forest/
REDD+ Governance and will continue to count on
our international partners for support in this pursuit.

Concluding: madam chair, distinguished participants, we believe that good governance engenders
trust, broad stakeholder acceptance, and a strong sense of ownership among different stakeholders.
helps to reduce the risk of conflicts or failure of REDD projects.

This

We believe that we have made somemodest gains in REDD readiness, particularly on issues relating to forest governance.

We3 will continue tocount on support of our international collaborators to be able to achieve necessary objectives and then theends that we all desire so much.

6

Tracking Forest Finance: http://reddx.forest-trends.org/