Opportunities and capacity for community-based forest carbon sequestration and monitoring in Ghana

Background

This paper documents the key areas which would need to be addressed in developing a monitoring plan for carbon sequestration in forest plantation in Ghana. These key areas were identified through local community engagement to understand how forest restoration plays a role in their lives and if they were equipped with the technical skills necessary to carry out monitoring work.

Conclusions & Takeaways

The authors suggest that local communities will more likely be involved in the project if they are able to perceive a sustained benefit from their participation throughout the lifecycle of the forest plantation. As agriculture is tied to livelihoods of local communities, there is a need to continue providing land for agriculture within forest plantation to ensure success of restoration projects. While there is a keen interest in collecting payment for carbon sequestration in the local communities, there is currently no access to the market. There were also concerns within the local community on the distribution of the payment where some members of the community think that payment should only go to individuals who were involved in the project and not the community at large. There is a need to establish clear rights and transparency to create trust among the local communities. Varying levels of education imply that monitoring methods introduced to the community would need to be kept simple. Training and technical assistance will also be required throughout the period of monitoring. There was also a need to equip local communities with ability to resolve the issue of fire within plantations.