Bolgatanga: World Vision Ghana, a Christian humanitarian organization, has commenced phase II of the Regreening Africa Project to expand efforts in restoring degraded landscapes and aiding communities in adapting to the impacts of climate change.
According to Ghana News Agency, the Regreening Africa Project is designed to enhance the livelihoods, food security, and climate change resilience of smallholder farmers by restoring ecosystem services, primarily through agroforestry. The new phase of the project aims to build on the achievements of the first phase, which utilized Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) techniques and livelihood interventions to rehabilitate degraded landscapes and improve food production for smallholder farmers.
The four-year initiative, being implemented in five African countries, is conducted in Ghana by World Vision Ghana in collaboration with the Catholic Relief Services. It receives overall coordination from the Centre for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) and funding support from the European Union. The project is being executed in the Garu, Tempane, Binduri, and Bawku West Districts in the Upper East Region, as well as the Mion and Yendi districts in the Northern Region.
The FMNR approach offers a cost-effective method of regreening and restoring degraded landscapes through the natural regeneration of existing tree shrubs and stumps, reducing the need for planting new trees. At a stakeholder inception meeting in Bolgatanga, Mr. Richard Appoh, Project Manager of the Regreening Africa Project at World Vision Ghana, stated that the project would consolidate the gains made in the first phase. The initial phase restored 50 hectares using FMNR and tree planting, and introduced regreening practices to about 40,000 households, while empowering women groups economically through the Savings for Transformation (S4T) model.
Mr. Appoh emphasized the urgent need to empower communities to become resilient and address environmental degradation and climate change challenges. The current phase will collaborate with stakeholders and beneficiary communities to restore more hectares of degraded lands and forests, addressing the threat of desertification from the Sahel. The project will also introduce livelihood interventions such as agro-processing and beekeeping to reduce communities' reliance on the environment for their livelihoods.
Mr. Mark Aidoo, Upper East Regional Deputy Regional Manager of the Forestry Commission, expressed concern about the rapid depletion of forest reserves due to human activities like improper farming and illegal mining. He commended the project for complementing efforts to address these environmental challenges. Alhaji Zakaria Fuseini, Upper East Regional Director of the Department of Agriculture, highlighted the impact of climate change on agricultural activities in the region and called for stakeholder support to ensure the success of the Regreening Africa Project in mitigating climate change impacts.
