Ghana close to issuing forest carbon credits under J-REDD+ programme – Minister

Ghana has announced it is close to issuing forest carbon credits under its ambitious J-REDD+ programme, as ministers and senior officials gathered in London with COP30 and COP31 leaders to accelerate action on forests ahead of the 2030 deadline to halt and reverse forest loss.

 

Ghana’s flagship Jurisdictional Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (J-REDD+) framework transitions traditional REDD+ projects into large-scale, national carbon credit programs. By focusing on entire ecological zones and linking climate finance directly to sustainable agriculture and livelihoods, it aims to protect forests while directly benefiting rural communities

 

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Yusif Sulemana, called for a trusted international framework for jurisdictional forest carbon credits, highlighting the programme's potential to scale investment into high-quality forest and land-use mitigation activities that deliver climate benefits while improving livelihoods.

 

The event dubbed “From Glasgow to Addis Ababa: FCLP and COP Presidencies Building Momentum on Forests from COP30 to COP31,” focused on maintaining forests as a priority through the next phase of international climate cooperation, from COP30 in Brazil through COP31 in Türkiye.

 

Ministers from Nigeria, Indonesia, and Ghana, shared a range of national initiatives and priorities, including recent commitments related to the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment, sustainable bioeconomy initiatives, and high-integrity forest carbon credits. 

 

Nigeria’s Environment Minister, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, highlighted the Nigerian government’s work across a range of forest initiatives including the Great Green Wall and the implementation of a National Clean Cooking Policy and re-affirmed Nigeria’s support for the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment. 

 

Minister of Forestry of Indonesia, Raja Juli Antoni, underlined the importance of protecting tropical peatlands and mangroves through the establishment of international centres for cooperation. He noted that mangroves are of the most effective nature-based solutions available, delivering climate mitigation and sustainable livelihoods. Indonesia is home to 3.4 million hectares of mangroves – roughly 23 per cent of the world’s mangrove ecosystems. 

 

The event also featured new commitments on land tenure rights from Peru and Brazil and a major forest finance pledge from Norway, underscoring growing momentum behind forest protection, sustainable land use and climate action ahead of COP30 in Brazil and COP31 in Türkiye.

 

The gathering underscored the growing importance of forests across the international climate agenda, bringing together representatives from multiple COP cycles to discuss how political leadership, finance, and implementation can help deliver the goal of halting and reversing forest loss by 2030.

 

"The ‘From Glasgow to Addis Ababa’ moment is key to sustaining the shift from ambition to implementation on forests. It allows us to advance the Roadmap to Halt and Reverse Deforestation and Forest Degradation by 2030, keeping political momentum alive and ensuring forests stay at the heart of climate action at the scale and speed required," said COP30 President, André Aranha Corrêa do Lago.

 

COP31 President, Murat Kurum, Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change of Türkiye, also said “the COP31 Action Agenda is designed to strengthen partnerships, advance practical solutions, support implementation efforts, and create a lasting legacy.

 

“To this end, we have identified ten priority themes under the COP31 Action Agenda. These themes were not selected merely as areas of discussion; rather, they reflect the most pressing global challenges, the implementation needs of Parties, and the areas where COP31 can generate tangible and enduring impact”.

 

 

Ghana's cocoa future at risk without producer-centred climate policies — Study

A new study has called for a major rethinking of climate adaptation and sustainability policies in Ghana's cocoa sector, arguing that future investments must focus not only on protecting cocoa trees and boosting production but also on strengthening the resilience of cocoa producers.

 

The call was made at a gathering in Accra to discuss findings from the study titled "Towards a Cocoa Producer-Focused Climate Policy in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana."

 

The research, conducted by scholars from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and partner institutions such as Harvard University, the Institute for Cacao and Chocolate Research and the Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny (INP-HB) in Côte d'Ivoire, argues that current climate adaptation strategies remain overly focused on cocoa production while paying insufficient attention to cocoa producers.

 

A Research and Policy Breakfast attracted researchers, policymakers, cocoa cooperatives, industry actors, development partners, civil society organisations, and representatives from Ghana's cocoa sector.

 

Presenting the findings, Dr. Albert Arhin of KNUST's Institute for Rural Development and Innovation Studies (IRDIS) noted that climate adaptation efforts in the cocoa sector have traditionally focused on increasing yields, controlling pests and diseases, and improving environmental sustainability.

 

He argued that while these interventions remain important, they are no longer sufficient on their own.

 

"Climate change is not only affecting cocoa trees. It is affecting the people who grow cocoa. Farmers are reporting rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, declining yields, increasing production costs, physical exhaustion, and growing uncertainty about the future of cocoa farming. These human dimensions of climate change require much greater policy attention," said Dr. Arhin.

 

The research was undertaken across cocoa-growing communities in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire and combined household surveys, focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and participatory research methods to capture farmers' experiences and perspectives.

 

According to the findings, many cocoa farmers are experiencing increasing difficulty managing climate-related shocks. Farmers reported working fewer hours during periods of extreme heat, facing rising labour demands, and struggling to implement adaptation measures due to financial constraints. Some also expressed concerns about whether younger generations would remain interested in cocoa farming under increasingly challenging conditions.

 

The study comes at a critical time for Ghana's cocoa sector. National production has declined in recent years, falling from historical averages of around 800,000 tonnes to approximately 600,000 tonnes. While several factors contribute to this trend, including pests, diseases, ageing farms, and rising production costs, farmers consistently identified climate change as a major source of growing vulnerability.

 

The researchers also found that many existing interventions, including price-based measures, have limited effectiveness when climate-related production losses continue to reduce the volume of cocoa available for sale.

 

Although initiatives such as the Living Income Differential (LID) have increased cocoa prices, many farmers continue to struggle with declining productivity and rising costs.

 

The policy brief launched at the event proposes an Eight-Point Agenda for a Producer-Centred Climate Policy. The recommendations include shifting from yield-centred policies towards producer-centred resilience, integrating climate adaptation with income support, investing in climate-smart water management, strengthening adaptation financing, improving farmer participation in decision-making, and incorporating farmer wellbeing into sustainability frameworks.

 

The researchers argue that the long-term competitiveness of Ghana's cocoa sector will increasingly depend on the resilience of its producers.

 

"Healthy and resilient farmers are the foundation of healthy and productive cocoa farms. If climate change continues to erode farmer health, labour productivity, and adaptive capacity, then cocoa production itself will become increasingly vulnerable," Dr Arhin explained.

 

Participants at the policy breakfast welcomed the findings and engaged in discussions on how government agencies, COCOBOD, the private sector, development partners, and research institutions can work together to strengthen resilience across cocoa-growing communities.

 

The study challenges conventional approaches that primarily view climate adaptation through the lens of productivity and environmental protection. Instead, it calls for a broader understanding of resilience that includes health, livelihoods, labour conditions, access to finance, water security, and social wellbeing.

 

The research was supported by the Harvard University Center for African Studies through the Motsepe Presidential Research Accelerator Fund for Africa. The broader research team includes Dr Carla Martin (Harvard University), Dr Albert Arhin (KNUST), Jose Lopez Ganem (Institute for Cocoa and Chocolate Research), Dr Amanda Berlan (University of Leicester), Richard Tetteh (KNUST), Dr Michael Ehis Odijie (University of Oxford), and Jean-Luc Kouassi (Côte d'Ivoire).

 

The researchers hope the findings will contribute to ongoing policy debates and encourage greater investment in producer resilience as a pathway to securing the future of Ghana's cocoa economy.

 

As climate pressures intensify across West Africa, the study concludes that safeguarding Ghana's cocoa future will require more than protecting cocoa farms. It will also require protecting the farmers who sustain them.

Bonn Climate Talks: Africa demands urgent action, restored trust and real delivery as SB64 concludes

The African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN) has called for greater urgency, stronger political commitment, and renewed trust in the multilateral climate process as the 64th sessions of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies (SB64) concluded in Bonn, Germany.

 

Speaking during the closing plenary, AGN Chair, Nana Dr. Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, expressed concern that some Parties appear to be postponing substantive climate ambition until the second Global Stocktake (GST) in 2028, warning that such delays are inconsistent with the realities facing the vulnerable population of more than 1.6 billion people across Africa.

“For Africa, that is not an option. Antalya and Addis Ababa must deliver meaningful progress. Climate impacts are already affecting our people, our economies, and our development prospects. We must act now," he stated.

Describing adaptation as Africa's most important climate priority and the principal mechanism for strengthening resilience to worsening climate impacts, the AGN Chair stressed the need for discussions on the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) to remain transparent, inclusive, Party-driven and grounded in genuine negotiations. 

"If we are serious about implementation, then we must equally be serious about protecting the integrity, transparency and Party-led nature of the negotiations that underpin it."

Climate finance is the life blood of climate action, and it continues to be the centre of attention at the negotiations. Amid declining climate finance flows, the AGN has expressed concern over uncertainty regarding future support, and geopolitical tensions that are widening the climate finance gap for developing countries. 

The AGN Chair therefore called for renewed commitment to the Climate Finance Work Programme and urged developed countries to demonstrate greater urgency in delivering climate finance commitments, including the agreed tripling of adaptation finance.

"Climate finance remains the foundation of trust in this process. Without adequate, predictable and accessible support, implementation gaps will continue to grow," said Nana Dr. Amoah, further expressing disappointment that political considerations continue to delay the transition of the Adaptation Fund to receive proceeds from Article 6.4 carbon market activities, potentially limiting resources available for adaptation.

On the Just Transition, the AGN Chair reiterated that Africa's understanding of a just transition begins with development, poverty eradication, industrialisation, energy access and decent work.

"Progress on just transition is patchy. We are concerned about the limited progress on operationalising the Just Transition Mechanism. We have three separate mandates, and they must be treated in a balanced manner. Intersessional work should therefore focus on the Just Transition Mechanism to restore that balance. For Africa, just transition means development first. Africa cannot be left at the margins of the global transition."

Looking Ahead to COP31

As negotiations move towards COP31 in Antalya and subsequent discussions in Addis Ababa next year, the African Group has emphasised that developing countries are already demonstrating ambition and commitment to climate action. What remains lacking, the Group noted, is adequate support to overcome implementation barriers.

"The world does not need promises deferred to 2028. It needs action now. Africa remains committed to constructive engagement and to advancing solutions that protect people, strengthen resilience and support sustainable development," said the AGN Chair.

 

Bonn Climate Talks: AGN advances inclusive African women’s climate agenda within global governance

Chair of the African Group of Negotiators on Climate Change (AGN), Dr. Nana Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, has called for a stronger, more coordinated African women’s agenda within global climate governance.

 

Engaging members of the Women and Gender Constituency at the sidelines of the UN climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany, he emphasized that Africa’s climate and development priorities cannot be fully achieved without deliberately elevating women’s voices and dismantling structural barriers to participation and implementation.

 

“Africa has more women than men, and women have unique circumstances and issues that need to be prioritised,” he noted, underscoring the need for unity and strategic engagement to strengthen Africa’s negotiating power.

 

The meeting served as a platform for direct dialogue with women negotiators and practitioners, aimed at informing AGN’s advocacy at the highest level of climate decision-making.

 

Key outcomes from the engagement included a call for coordinated action for African women to organise around shared positions and develop collective policy inputs to strengthen influence in negotiations.

 

Concerns were also raised about limited climate finance that continues to undermine gender equality commitments and local-level impact. Strong emphasis was placed on ensuring resources reach grassroots women most affected by climate change.

 

Participants highlighted the underrepresentation of African women in international climate institutions and decision-making bodies.

 

Calls were made for expanded training, mentorship, and knowledge-sharing to support emerging women negotiators across Africa.

 

Dr. Amoah reaffirmed AGN’s commitment to inclusive engagement and merit-based representation, while also supporting improved pathways for women’s participation in climate governance processes.

 

The discussions also reflected broader concerns around transparency in recruitment within climate institutions and the need for better data on African women’s representation in global climate structures.

 

As Africa advances its climate agenda, participants stressed that empowering women is not only a matter of equity, but also a strategic necessity for effective and credible climate action.