Accra, Nov.4, GNA — Ghana, through the efforts of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has signed onto the LEAF Coalition at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, (COP, 26) on Wednesday, November 3, 2021.
Ghana has registered under ART-TREES and will by signing generate ART credits to comply with the LEAF and participate in carbon markets.
In a statement at the signing ceremony, the Lands Minister said the climate crisis was getting worse by the day and called for robust actions and concerted efforts by all nations to reverse the negative trend.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Abu Jinapor said Ghana was ready to work with the Coalition to invest in reducing deforestation and embark on aggressive afforestation for sustainable rural development.
Given Ghana’s dedication to seeing to the realisation of the Climate Change agenda, the Minister stated that Ghana had embarked on various initiatives to restore the country’s forest cover.
“We, in Ghana, have begun an aggressive afforestation programme aimed at restoring our lost forest cover and are also embarking on efforts to reclaim our degraded lands.
“We have declared 11th June each year as “Green Ghana Day”, where all citizens and foreigners living in Ghana are encouraged to plant at least one tree,” Mr Abu Jinapor said.
He said in the coming years, earnest preparations were being made to plant at least 20 million trees during the Green Ghana Day and inculcate in Ghanaians the culture of tree planting as a means of restoring the lost forest cover and contributing to the reduction in emissions.
Mr Abu Jinapor reiterated the government’s commitment to meeting the Climate change target.
He said: “The commitment of President Akufo-Addo and his government to lead Ghana in contributing to the global efforts to come to grips with the existential crisis of climate change is total and unwavering.”
The Minister expressed his gratitude to member states of the UN, especially to the US, UK and Norway for coming together to launch such an important initiative.
A Lowering Emissions Accelerating Forest Finance ( LEAF) Coalition is a voluntary global coalition bringing together companies and governments to provide finance for tropical and subtropical forest conservation commensurate with the scale of the climate change challenge.
It formed part of efforts to protect tropical and sub-tropical forests, a group of governments and leading companies, at the Leaders’ Summit on Climate in April 2021, launched the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition.
The LEAF is an ambitious public-private initiative to accelerate climate action by providing results-based finance to countries committed to protecting their tropical forests.
LEAF Coalition aims to mobilize at least one billion dollars in financing to support tropical and subtropical jurisdictions in making substantial reductions in their emissions from deforestation.
Source: Ghana News Agency