An Overview Of Our Solution
The project involves environmental ecosystem development and social organizational learning which builds social capital and trust develops knowledge, skills and attitudes to create social organizational culture which enables civil society organizations to set objectives, achieve results, solve problems and create adaptive procedures which enable it to survive in the long term. The solution targeted civil society farmers to be ability as individuals and organizations to undertake high quality agricultural productivity, environmental sustainability, effectively and efficiently. The ecosystem and Social Capacity development is to enhance civil society individuals groups, and organizations farmers’ abilities to mobilize and use resources in order to achieve their environmental ecosystem objectives on a sustainable basis.
Who is this solution impacting?
Community Type
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: Africa
General Information
Organization type
Cooperative
Ecosystem (select all that apply)
Grasslands
Population impacted
7,500 community people
Challenge
Size of agricultural area
1500 ha
Production quantity
150 tons
People employed
20 people
Solution
Describe your solution
The project planned to promote alternative business activities and renewal energy use adaptation to reduce deforestation, land degradation, bushfires and greenhouse gas emissions and ignorance application of pesticides and chemicals through conducting capacity education with network partners for community people and farmers to adapt agro-forestry farming practices; farming as well as planting trees on the farms, conserving soil, water, climate change adaptation, environmental management, train them to develop watershed for household use and irrigation and to engage in biodiversity conservation alongside agriculture productivity to maintain the flows of forest ecosystem, fertile land, and clean water to improve and sustain resilience to climate change Agriculture to ensure sustainable food harvest and food security. Strengthening community farmers education through practical demonstration of climate change adaptation, biodiversity restoration and pesticide application methods to protect pesticides run off into safe water bodies and to encourage farmers to change local traditional farming system to scientific farming and environmental sustainability adaptive of climate change conservation and environmental management activities in community forest and farms to increase food, safe water bodies and ecosystem to regenerate natural resources for agricultural production to improve nature based community economic development. The project solution includes Government
Implementation
Describe your implementation
We conduct capacity biodiversity conservation education that is based on community participatory knowledge learning, local community people will take active part in the training activities and field survey. The first four months is dedicated for training local participants, the following four months will be dedicated to field conservation with community trained participants. Three months will be dedicated to model generation and data analysis. The last month will be for closing meetings with local people and results presentation. To prepare local participants for the environmental field survey, monitoring and evaluation: through meetings and field practices, 20 local communities’ people of different parts of the project area will be prepared for the field conservation survey and evaluation. They will learn and practice ecosystem conservation, management and protection techniques. A qualified four people technical team will be in charge of the training and monitoring survey. The environmental management mandate will be given to the community groups after the project activities to ensure effective Monitoring activities and data collection from the project site to be reported to the Management team for verification in order to achieve relevance project management and integration of data collected at different scales development of conservation agriculture, water and climate change adaptation effectiveness that can sustain the ecosystem, food and economic development. The community will form Community based management and monitoring groups and each group will be given an important role to play in improving local resource management for sustaining the environmental ecosystem condition to ensure success of food security, availability of safe water, agribusiness economic and livelihood.
External connections
District Division of Forest Commission
Community Based Organizations
Environmental Protection Agency
Ministry of Food and Agriculture
Organization worked with above listed Organizations in the operational districts inline with Ghana’s environmental policy Ghana has signed several international conventions and treaties concerning the Environment, natural resources and climate change including the United Nations convention on Biological Diversity the Association connected with forestry and agriculture sectors the above organizations support me financially logistics support to engaged in community capacity environmental education, biodiversity-conservation, sustainable management and agriculture productivity marketing value chain investment to enhance sustainable forest by engaging farmers in tree plantation and farming and refrain from farming on degraded farm lands. We offer technical policies and skill knowledge of agro forest landscape management capabilities for the community people and farmers to execute biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation to promote organic climate agriculture and food security.
Results
What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?
The solution is targeting 500 hectares of deteriorating communities’ environmental ecosystem caused by human behavior and natural processes such as floods erosions, but most are largely the result of human activity through deforestation, land degradation, greenhouse gas emissions, bushfires, and terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems destructions. Climate change models impacts on agriculture affected community food productivity and economic development they suffered climate change hazards due to lack of knowledge of climate change adaptation, biodiversity conservation and environmental management.
Describe the context in which you are operating
Education and conservation for community farmers to ensure Sustainable land use management to integrate biodiversity and ecosystems, offer them training on alternative pest control practices by construction farm bounds around each farm to protect toxic run-off into local community water sources. Train the farmers to adopt Organic farming practices that does not need chemical fertilizers, organic farming increases bio-soil fertility ecosystem vegetation water and improve food production. Develop integrated goal-setting and policy formulation at the national and local levels that takes into account of community environmental conservation management social benefit and economic development; Develop policies that encourage sustainable land use and management of land resources ensure environmental regulatory policy framework including laws regulations and enforcement procedures in order to identify improvements needed to support sustainable land use and management of resources; Apply economic instruments and develop institutional mechanisms and incentives to encourage the best possible land conservation use and sustainable management of land and other natural resources; Encourage the principle of delegating policy-making to the lowest level of public authority consistent with effective action and a locally driven approach.
How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?
Base on the project structure the methodology is developed by technical team together with the project’s community monitors, firstly trying to understand feasibility of a community environmental project site and community people effective monitoring model in generating the necessary information and to guide and contextualize the project activities that would supplement indicators. Project activities pioneering approach through which communities Environmental Management Committees will participate in capacity education, conservation, monitoring and the project management. We build network of practitioners of community based monitoring such as Community Based Organizations to share knowledge and best-practices to advocate for community-based management and monitoring as viable approach for maximizing effectiveness efficiency and equity of the project. This project involves collaboration between a team of 20 dedicated community monitors from communities and technical stakeholders. Five local project management staff and partner representatives from the District Division of Forest Commission, Department of Agriculture Unit and Monitoring Team of Association. Conservation activities are measured and evaluated data are gathered on livelihood, natural resource use, fertile land-use, conservation of carbon stocks, food security, and economic development.
Water
Safe water bodies’ conservation and protecting of water bodies from chemical contamination, indicating ecosystem vegetation, supply of clean water to every community household, farms irrigation and eradication of water related diseases.
Food Security/Nutrition
Forest conservation and governance; Development of environmental ecosystem indicating increased food production, Food security and healthy nutritional value in the community
Economic/Sustainable Development
Economic development; Poverty situation in the communities has reduced indicating Agricultural productivity and food security improvement
Climate
Adaptation of climate change and organic farming; elimination of greenhouse gas emissions and reduction of bushfires indicating ecosystem vegetation and increase food harvesting and poverty reduction.
Sustainability
Association contribution and financial grant supports from other organizations, Association education, conservation and Protected Areas, climate change adaptation is Sustaining macroeconomic stability and enhancing competitiveness of Ghana‘s private sector. Enhancing accelerated agricultural modernization and natural resource management and protecting Environmental Degradation land, forest, including Wetlands Water Resources Management, infrastructure human settlements development improved human development, employment and productivity transparent and accountable. 2500 Community people in the five Districts including women are empowered with environmental conservation, climate change adaptation
Return on investment
Project Education and Conservation grant: US$50,000; Investment: US$20,000
Return on investment: US$ 10,000; the project implementation cost US$60,000.
Replication and Scale
How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?
Rational behind replicating this solution project to other districts communities is that the key threats of deteriorating environmental ecosystem are occurring in the 26 Districts in the northern Region of Ghana, and certain instances developing from natural processes such as floods and erosions . The drivers of phenomena such as climate change, loss of plant and animal species’ habitats, and loss of carbon stock in the Northern Region Districts environment need additional training and materials to effectively replicate the project to sustain the ecosystem to improve food production, water and economic development in the Region. The key stakeholders are District Division of Forest Commission, Community Based Organizations, Northern Ghana Network for Development, Environmental Protection Agency and District Department of Food and Agriculture Unit. The project is currently going on in the two Districts; we planned to replicate the project to other District when funds are available