Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor, says the world is finally recognizing Ghana’s pioneering role in the restoration of the country’s forest cover.

Ghana, on November 11, took center stage at the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP27 in Egypt when it co-chaired with the United States of America, the first ministerial meeting on a $16.5 billion initiative to protect global forests. 

Lands and Natural Resources Minister, Samuel Abu Jinapor and the United States’ Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, Secretary John Kerry jointly chaired the meeting to develop a framework for 2023 and beyond to achieve the objectives of the Partnership.

The meeting was attended by 28 other ministers and five observer countries with a mission to save the world’s forests.

According to Abu Jinapor, this honour was done Ghana due to the leadership the country has been offering in the past few years in the area of forest cover protection.

He said Ghana has been implementing practical and concrete interventions to protect the country’s forest estate.

This he says has resulted in Ghana chalking some enviable feats including a 13% reduction in deforestation in 2021.

“As a matter of fact, we have a programme in the cocoa value chain where third parties are validated and emission reduction is verified. This has resulted in Ghana receiving about $5 million from the carbon fund.”

He added, “And indeed in the case of the emission reduction in the cocoa red plus programme, Ghana is the third in the world to be receiving this verified and validated reduction payment of about $5million.”

He noted that while there have been many challenges, the world is recognizing Ghana’s efforts.

“Let me point out that we have challenges in other sectors and we have challenges in the preservation of the forest estate of our country, as you know, illegal small scale mining continues to be a major issue which is something that we’re working on, but fundamentally the world is recognizing Ghana’s lead, pioneering role in the restoration of our forest cover.

“The Green Ghana Day as you know, when we mentioned it at the launch of the FCLP, the Prime Minister of the UK was pleasantly surprised that we planted 24million trees this year in one particular day.

“So the gamut of measures, the various interventions, the policies, programmes, the practical measures we’re putting on the ground in my view, in my respectful modest view are those which are contributing to the recognition that Ghana is receiving now,” he said.