Agriculture

UAE pledges $30m for Ghana’s biodiversity push

September 30, 2024, 1:36 PM

Farmers harvesting cocoa in Amankwaatia village, Ghana. The cocoa industry employs 17% of Ghana's workforce

Agreement covers six areas
Reforestation and sustainable farming
Ghana suffering under climate change

The UAE and Ghana have signed a $30 million partnership for nature-based community development and climate initiatives.

The agreement covers six areas of investment, including biodiversity corridors, which allow animals to travel from one patch of native forest to another, reforestation and agroecology – sustainable farming that works with nature.

The partnership aims to deliver climate and community benefits. It was signed by Amna Al Shamsi, minister of climate change and the environment and Samuel Jinapor, Ghana’s minister of lands and natural resources.

“Our investment in Ghana will not only bolster the country’s afforestation efforts but will also create a broader positive impact on local communities,” said Al Shamsi.

Jinapor said although Ghana is receiving carbon payments, there are “critical implementation gaps that need to be filled with other financial instruments to generate more emission reductions”.

Ghana, like other nations in west Africa, is suffering the effects of climate change, such as rising temperatures, severe rain and extreme droughts.

Deforestation, together with agriculture and other land use changes, is responsible for roughly a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, the UN has said.

Around one-third of Ghana is covered by forest, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

Ghana is the world’s second-largest cocoa producer. The country’s cocoa farms are a major cause of deforestation, with large areas of trees often cleared to make way for new plantations.

In recent weeks, however, Ghana began piloting a system that traces cocoa beans from farm to port ahead of a new EU law being introduced in December that bans the import of commodities linked to deforestation, Reuters reported.

The law requires EU importers of coffee, cocoa, soy, palm, timber, beef and rubber to prove their supply chains are not contributing to deforestation anywhere in the world or be fined up to 4 percent of their turnover.

Reuters said around 60 percent of Ghana’s cocoa is exported to the EU. The industry employs about 17 percent of the country’s working population.