Ghana ready to integrate gender into forest governance initiative

Climate change has severe impact for women as they search for water for their families

Ghana is ready to outdoor a guide that sets out the criteria for integrating gender considerations into the forest management initiative, which management allows countries to make money while keeping their forests intact.
The initiative, technically called REDD+ (pronounced REDD-plus), is an impact-easing (mitigation) mechanism under the climate change portfolio that encourages developing countries in particular to plant trees to trap the carbons from the atmosphere and get compensated by developed countries for the carbon stocks. REDD+ is the acronym for Reducing Emission from Deforestation and forest Degradation and enhancement of carbon stocks.

On Tuesday, November 13 2012, a host of stakeholders would gather in Accra for the launch of a “Ghana Gender and REDD+ Road Map”, dubbed, Mainstreaming Gender Considerations into Ghana’s REDD-plus Process for Equity and Sustainability’.
The road map is the result of a collaborative effort between the Forestry Commission (FC) and The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as part of implementation of their ongoing DANIDA-funded pro-poor REDD+ project, and with facilitation support from the Women’s Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO) and the Participatory Development Associates (PDA).
According to the partners, the road map would prop up Ghana’s implementation of the REDD+ process. “A key priority under this mechanism is ensuring social and environmental safeguards are adhered to, at all levels, including ensuring equal opportunities and equitable benefits for men, women and vulnerable groups.
“It is against this background that the Gender and REDD+ Road Map was developed through a multi stakeholder process, to provide a framework/ guidance for the mainstreaming of gender considerations into Ghana’s REDD+ process; thereby ensuring that the country’s National REDD strategy development and implementation is gender sensitive and meets international social/safeguards standards,” Wale Adeleke, REDD Forest Governance Thematic Coordinator, indicated on behalf of the partners.
A couple of years ago, Ghana became a participating REDD+ country under the World Bank’s Forest Partnership Facility (FCPF) and is currently at the Readiness Phase.
The REDD+ mechanism is a global climate change mitigation initiative under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It is aimed at providing the necessary policy approaches and positive incentives for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries including biodiversity conservation, sustainable forest management, ecological restoration and the expansion of livelihood opportunities and benefits for forest communities.

This story was first published in the Public Agenda newspaper on Monday, November 12, 2012. You can also read from publicagendaghana.com