Ghana recently hosted the South-South Regional REDD+ Study Visit and Knowledge Exchange Workshop to aid West African nations in preparing for results-based climate finance to reduce deforestation and forest degradation emissions.
The event brought together representatives from Benin, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Sierra Leone. They shared experiences, strengthened forest governance, and identified practical pathways to secure climate finance.
Ghana’s progress in REDD+ systems
Timothy Ataboadey Awotiirim, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Forestry Commission, explained that REDD+ readiness is the initial phase of the Warsaw Framework. It lays the groundwork for countries to receive results-based payments.
Participating nations are developing essential systems, including national forest monitoring, forest reference emission levels, safeguards information systems, and national REDD+ strategies.
Ghana has made notable progress in establishing these systems. It has submitted its forest reference emission level to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for technical assessment. Ghana has also enhanced forest monitoring and carbon accounting arrangements.
The country integrated REDD+ into its Biennial Transparency Report through the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Programme. These efforts have secured Ghana over $21 million in results-based payments from the World Bank’s Carbon Fund.
South-South exchange for shared learning
Awotiirim noted that achieving these results required years of institutional coordination, capacity building, and stakeholder engagement. This makes peer learning essential for countries facing similar challenges.
“Our forests do not stop at national borders, and neither should our solutions,” he said.
He encouraged participants to openly discuss challenges, including institutional coordination, staff turnover, financial gaps, community expectations, safeguards, and free, prior, and informed consent. This would help identify practical solutions during the workshop.
The event also examined forest monitoring, greenhouse gas inventories, reference levels, and Biennial Transparency Reports. Understanding these systems’ connections would help countries report more confidently and attract climate finance.
Ghana has engaged with initiatives like the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), the World Bank’s Carbon Fund, and the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance (LEAF) Coalition. It is also exploring opportunities under the Green Climate Fund, LEAF, and TFFF.
FAO’s commitment to bridging the gap
Awotiirim expressed hope that each delegation would develop a National Climate Finance Roadmap by the workshop’s end.
Meshack Malo, the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Representative to Ghana, stated that FAO is dedicated to helping countries bridge the gap between available climate finance and access to those resources.
He thanked Ghana for hosting the workshop, noting it allows countries to learn from Ghana’s experience and identify the capacities and systems needed to successfully secure results-based payments.
