Digitisation of Indigenous Knowledge in the Forestry Sector in Ghana
Project Team:
Margaret Sraku-Lartey, Stella Britwum Acquah, Sparklar Samar Brefo, Gloria Djagbletey and Naomi Appiah
Client:
Elsevier Foundation
Project Duration:
2015-2016
Project Team:
Margaret Sraku-Lartey, Stella Britwum Acquah, Sparklar Samar Brefo, Gloria Djagbletey and Naomi Appiah
Client:
Elsevier Foundation
Project Duration:
2015-2016
Project Team:
Adu-Bredu, S. and Ametsitsi, G.K.D.
Collaborators:
Nature Conservation and Plant Ecology Group, Wageningen University
Background
GEOCARBON is an European FP7 project with a global perspective, with the ultimate aim to lay the foundations for an operational Global Carbon Observing and Analysis System in support to both science and policy. Th e loss of most transitional forest over a distance of 150 km nationwide (“savanisation”) particularly in the zone of transition (ZOT) in Ghana has been dramatic.
Project Team:
Adu-Bredu, S., Owusu-Afriyie, K., Duah-Gyamfi , A., Addo-Danso, S.D., Djagbletey,G.D., Amponsah Manu, E. and Adu-Opoku, A.
Collaborators:
School of Geography and the Environment, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
Background
Tropical forests play a major role in the global carbon cycle, by storing a substantial amount of carbon in biomass and soil, and by regulating transfer of this stored carbon into the atmosphere as greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2).
Project Team:
Appiah-Kubi, E., Strautmann, J., Owusu, F.W., Appiah, J.K., Tekpetey, S.L., Damnyag, L., Essien, C., Sekyere, D. and Ofori, J.
Background
Housing continues to be a major problem in many African countries. In Ghana, the cost of building materials is high and many poor families live in congested and overcrowded cities. Laterite is a readily available building material which has been used for many years by local people in villages who cannot a ord cement for building construction. Agricultural residues such as corn and rice husks and sawdust from processing industries that are potential raw materials for building are mostly, burnt in the open causing air pollution. Th is project is in collaboration with Bern University of Applied Sciences, Architecture Wood & Civil Engineering, Switzerland and CSIR-BRRI, and is in two main phases. The fi rst project phase is concerned with the collection and analysis of readily available raw materials such as sawdust, corn stalk with the husk, rice husk and palm fi bres
Project Team:
Anglaaere, L.C.N., Blay, D., Damnyag, L., Dabo, J., Owusu, S. and Manu, E.
Background
Th is project, which is sponsored by the Swiss Economic Cooperation Organization (SECO), is a continuation of a fi rst phase that focused on establishing biological baselines for Allanblackia (AB) within five communities in the Western Region. It involved an assessment of phenology of species (flowering, fruiting, fruit size and number of seeds per pod), regeneration and growth rates of the Allanblackia tree on farms and in the forest. Following a successful completion of this phase, a proposal was made for a second phase to move the AB programme forward and to, among other things, increase population of AB within the landscape. Th e project was consequently up-scaled to cover 8 communities in the Western Region.
Project Team:
Oduro, K.A., Agyeman, V.K., Foli, E. & Damnyag, L.
Background
Th is project is preparing a major support component to Ghana’s Readiness Preparation Proposal (RPP) and aims at strengthening Ghana’s capacities to prevent and reduce deforestation and forest degradation and enhance carbon stocks (REDD+). It lays out the ground work for the development or enhancement of off -reserve production systems under REDD+ schemes, in line with e ort to reduce GHG emissions in forests. Th e present REDDES project is a preparatory step for an additional support component for the implementation of Ghana’s R-PP and is mainly concerned with developing a number of analytical works and the de finition of REDD+ pilots in off -reserve areas. Th e project
Project Team:
Opuni-Frimpong, E., Mensah, J., Bandoh, W., Opoku Mensah, E., Govina, J. and Ofori, E.
Background
Illegal logging and trade in illegal timber and wood products are the cause of many economic and ecological problems in both producer and consumer countries. Although instruments have been established against illegal logging and trade, at both national and regional levels, practicable control mechanisms to identify the origin of timber and wood products are lacking. Such methods of identifying types of wood and timber origins are fundamental prerequisites for e fficient import controls or corresponding origin testing by the timber industry. Existing timber tracking systems use paper-based records of timber origin at all levels of the documentation process. The tests presently used, for example in the scope of the CITES international species protection convention, meet their limits in many tropical tree species. New methods that are on the threshold of usability are DNA fingerprints and stable isotopes. The innovative character of these new methods stem from the fact that characteristics inherent to the timber are used instead of externally applied marks.
Project Team:
Darko-Obiri, B., Obeng, E.A., Oduro, K.A., Peprah, T., Damnyag, L., Derkyi,N.S.A., Opuni-Frimpong, E., Nutakor, E. and Adjei, R.
An important product derived from forests and woodland is wood fuel, which accounts for over 85% of the total energy consumption of West African countries and provides for the energy needs of most households. e Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’ (IPCC) fourth assessment report on mitigation of climate change puts wood fuel as the only source of fuel for one third of the world’s population with this demand expected to double in the next 50 years. e IPCC report continues to estimate the world wide harvesting of wood as 60% industrial round wood and the remaining 40% as wood fuel, primarily charcoal and firewood. Though wood fuel is the most common form of biomass, it is currently not easily accessible because of the fast rate of degradation of the natural forest. In Ghana, wood fuel consumption increased from about 18.4 million cubic meter in 1990 to about 33 million cubic meter in 2006, largely in response to population growth. The Energy Commission of Ghana estimates that wood fuel consumption in Ghana is twice as large as other energy sources, including electricity and petroleum and over 90% of rural households depend on wood fuel for cooking. Th e use of LPG in Ghana on the other hand accounts for only 4−6% of the residential sector’s energy needs and is only concentrated in the urban areas, mostly among the middle and higher income groups in society.
Project Team Leader:
Marfo, E.
Background
Stakeholder participation and consultation at the national and sub-national levels is an important pillar for the development of REDD+. Ghana claims to have developed its REDD Readiness Plan through a highly participatory and consultative process using the notion of stakeholder representation in designing the institutional architecture for participation. The rhetoric of democratic representation is highly visible in Ghana’s constitution and forest policy statements but to what extent was the espoused democratic principles regarding representation implemented by intervening authorities who designed and implemented the REDD Readiness strategy consultative process.
Project Team:
Bosu, P.P., Djagbletey, G., Ametsitsi, G.,Addo-Danso, S., Foli, E.G. and Cobbinah, J.R.
Background
Sacred groves are small areas of intact or slightly degraded primary forests reserved for religious and traditional rites. Th ese forest islands remain among the most valuable biodiversity hotspots for which much could be obtained for the conservation and sustainable management of forests for the future. e focal objectives of the study were to:
1. Assess the potential of the Tano Sacred Grove (TSG) to provide the ecosystem service of pollination to the surrounding agricultural landscape.
2. Determine soil nutrients and carbon stocks in the TSG and the various land-use types.
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