Rainforest Alliance, other partners hold launch for EU funded LEAN project

The Rainforest Alliance on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, joined heads with three other partners to launch the European Union (EU) Landscapes and Environmental Agility across the Nation (LEAN) project at the Alisa Hotel in Accra.

The project seeks to directly contribute to the national efforts of conserving biodiversity, improving livelihoods of smallholder farmers, increasing climate change resilience, and reducing emissions from land-use changes in the Savannah, High Forest, and Transition Zones of Ghana.

The LEAN project is being implemented in Ghana until 2024 by a consortium of World Vision, Tropenbos Ghana, EcoCare Ghana, and Rainforest Alliance and will see the EU investing a sum of $4 million in the course of the period.

Representing the funding partners of the project at the launch, EU team leader for infrastructure and sustainable development, Roberto Schiliro stressed that the project is designed to complement other ongoing initiatives like the EU funded governing Multifunctioning Landscape Project in the Kwaebibirem-Atiwa area of the Eastern Region and implemented by the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

Roberto Schiliro

Noting that the project will also strengthen the existing partnerships between the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, and the European Union to support Agriculture and Forestry, Roberto Schiliro said it is important to ensure continuous food security in the country.

“It is crucial to support actions that promote food and nutritional security, agricultural livelihoods and agro forest-industry in Ghana,” the EU representative said.

Engaging the media on the sidelines of the launch, Director of Tropenbos Ghana, Mrs. Mercy Owusu-Ansah explained that, unlike other past projects, LEAN is going to focus not just one agro commodity but a number of commodities including cocoa, cashew, Shea butter, and others.

In the midst of the continuous depletion of the forest reserve, Mrs. Mercy Owusu-Ansah says it is very vital to embark on the project to work with other key stakeholders to attain the expected impact.

She said her outfit and that of the other implementing partners will go beyond relying on government agencies to an era where members of communities will be engaged and dragged along every step of the way to solve the urgent issues.

In her concluding remarks, she said at the end of the day, they want to see that the country’s forest cover has increased and the livelihoods of farmers in the targeted communities have improved

On his part, Mr. Seth Osei-Akoto who is the Director of Crop Services at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture [MoFA] assured stakeholders of their commitment to play a key role to make the UE LEAN project successful.

“I wish to assure you of the support of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to collaborate with partners of the EU-LEAN project to achieve the objectives outlined for a sustainable environment and food production,” he said.

Mr. Seth Osei-Akoto further noted that by so doing, Ghana as a signatory to the Paris Climate Agreement will be working towards achieving its Nationally Determined Contribution to the agreement.

Commending the implementing partners forming the consortium for the project, the MoFA representative indicated that the multi-sectoral approach of the LEAN project to involve the financial sector, forestry sector, private sector, CSOs, NGOs, traditional leaders, and other stakeholders, gives a positive outlook for the success of the project.

Giving an address as the representative for the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Technical Director in Charge of Forestry, Mr. Musah Abu-Juam said that it is gratifying to note that the LEAN project is in line with the objective and strategies underpinning the Ghana forest and wildlife policy 2012.

According to him, for a country like Ghana where about 70% of local community members particularly women depend on forests for their food and energy requirements, his Ministry has the sustainable management of the country’s natural resources at the heart.

As a result, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources takes interest in the landscape level planning approach through the collaborative efforts between resource users and managers.

Mr. Musah Abu-Juam added that his outfit particularly takes an exceptional interest in the EU LEAN project and looks forward to a fruitful collaboration and implementation with World Vision, Tropenbos EcoCare Ghana, and Rainforest Alliance.

Delivering a speech on behalf of the Forestry Commission, Director of Climate Change, Madam Roselyn Fosuah Adjei added to the applause of the other stakeholders as she expressed appreciation on behalf of the commission to the EU for funding the LEAN project.

“The commission appreciates the European Union for funding this catalytic project which will expedite needed landscape action to speed up and achieve the national policy direction for the forestry sector, which represents a prominent feature in Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Agreement,” she said.

While indicating that the Commission will do all it can to push the project to succeed, Madam Roselyn Fosuah Adjei also thanked the Consortium partners for their innovation, creativity, and commitment in the fight against deforestation and forest degradation.

To achieve the objectives of the LEAN project, the Rainforest Alliance, Tropenbos, Ghana, EcoCare Ghana, and World Vision Ghana will be working closely with the EU Delegation, private sector, local communities and core national partners, to catalyse systemic changes across three biodiversity significant and economically important landscapes to help translate the sustainability commitments into the workable solutions on the ground.

Find more on the landscapes expected to benefit below:

High Forest Ecological Landscape:

The Western Zone B High Intervention Area landscape and the adjoining Sui River landscape has been designated as one of the Hotspot Intervention Areas (HIAs) under the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Programme (GCFRP) and is the most advanced landscape with respect to the stakeholders’ interest and commitment to collaborate and has already secured support for the set-up of the multi-stakeholder Landscape Management Board (facilitated by Rainforest Alliance).

Transitional Landscape:

This landscape falls under the Forest Savannah Transition landscape REDD+ programme, which doesn’t yet have an HIA demarcation and is mostly rural and generally young, with an increasing percentage of youth and women engaged in agricultural production. Most households (99.3%) are engaged in crop farming, with the majority engaged in the production of food crops, palm tree and cash crops like cocoa. With such a high percentage of the region’s households engaged in farming, only a landscape-scale transformation will achieve a broad and sustainable impact for the region.

Savanna landscape:

Located in the Northern regions, this landscape falls under the Subnational level Emission Reductions Programme for the Shea Landscape of the Northern Savannah Woodland (the Shea Savannah Woodland Programme. Serious drainage problems, high amounts of runoff and Erosion are some of the significant agricultural constraints in the landscape with noted Human activities including shifting cultivation, slash and burn method of land preparation and illegal chain-saw operations affecting sustainability.