Ghana Rubber Estates Ltd (GREL)

Takoradi, Ghana

An Overview Of Our Solution

Natural rubber is, in itself, a sustainable and renewable natural resource, whose cultivation creates positive spinoffs from economic, social and environmental perspectives. Nevertheless, there are risks. The growing world population and the development of mobility solutions will have an impact on the demand for tires and, by extension, natural rubber. If this increase in demand is not addressed wisely, it will inevitably put more pressure on forests, biodiversity and agricultural land. For this reason, GREL is committed to demonstrating best environmental and social management practices in all its operations. Findings from an HCV assessment in Awudua showed that the concession is generally suitable for rubber plantation development. Additionally, more than 10% of original ecosystem has been conserved for biodiversity enhancement.

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Rural

Organization type

Corporación/Sector Privado

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Forests

Freshwater

Oceans/Coasts

Population impacted

About 30,000

Size of agricultural area

4271 ha

Production quantity

Yet to produce, still immature

People employed

About 370 people

Describe your solution

Although information available indicates that the concession consisted of a mosaic of farmlands, bush fallows and secondary forests at the time of acquisition. This information was made known after High Conservation Value (HCV) assessment Scoping exercise. Evidence of this could be seen in the currently unplanted areas in the concessions. As a member of the SIFCA Group, GREL has been committed to demonstrating best environmental and social management practices in all its operations and meeting the SIFCA Environmental and Social Charters. This requires that the company identifies all areas necessary for the protection of biodiversity and minimize the impacts of their operations on the environment and on society. As part of this commitment, GREL conducted a detailed and independent High Conservation Value (HCV) assessment of its new concession at Awudua in the Western region. This independent assessment was followed by implementation of the associated management recommendations which has helped the company demonstrates efforts towards protecting HCVs and biodiversity conservation in the concession.

Describe your implementation

We have documented and implementation plan called “HCV and Biodiversity Management Plan”. In this plan is a Biodiversity conservation committee from all targeted and concerned departments and stakeholders, including corporate affairs, plantation operations, sustainability department, survey, land use managers, land preparation managers and technical training department. The plan seek to address specifically the following; preserve biodiversity as a policy in both the Estates plantations and the Rubber Out-grower Unit for smallholder farmers, Preserve at least 10% of all new concessions (original ecosystem), No conversion on excessive slopes and along water bodies, Promote the development of fallow lands, Combat against poaching, illegal logging and forest fires with the help of forest patrol guards (now the company has employed 2 guards for this task). With the help of this plan the company has already conserved about 500 ha original ecosystems with additional estimated about 600 ha to be conserved as we continue the conversion of our new concessions into plantations. In the conserved ecosystem consist of various flora and fauna species of IUCN interest, most importantly is the Tree Pangolins. The main obstacle was the resistance to change among some plantation managers and other stakeholders such as the local communities who were unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the new techniques; however with persistent and regular trainings and awareness creation, the above successes were achieve together.

External connections

Key partners include the Ghana Forestry commission (FC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Traditional Authorities and the Educational Institutions (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST). The FC and GREL has signed an MOU in 2014 to establish, maintain and enhance a 240 ha forest (HCV area) expected to protect one of the major Rivers in the country (Ankobra) which shares a boundary with the concession. It is also the responsibility of the EPA to grant the company the permit vis-à-vis the permit conditions which assist us to conserve biodiversity. The department of Wildlife and Rangeland at KNUST also assists us in biodiversity inventory, annual monitoring and other assessments in order to maintain and enhance all the HCV areas in the concession. All these operations and activities are sponsored through the budget of the company

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

The main environmental challenge is deforestation vis-à-vis GHGs emissions. At the turn of the 20th century, it was estimated that Ghana had over 80,000 km² of high forest but by 1950 this had fallen to 42,000 km² and by 1980 only 19,000 km² was left. In 1990, the current area of intact high forest was estimated at about 15,000 km² and in 2000 it was estimated at about 12,900 km². Annual rate of deforestation is estimated at 2%. The main causes of deforestation are shifting agriculture, wildfires, demand for fuel wood and over-logging. Agriculture alone accounts for more than 70% of deforestation. Forest fires are more pronounced in the drier semi-deciduous vegetation zone and are becoming a growing threat to the long term survival of forests in some parts of the country. Heavily logged forests and previously burnt areas for agricultural purposes allow fires to spread deep into forest areas.

Describe the context in which you are operating

The Ghana Rubber Estate Limited is a leading company engaged in natural rubber production at both the primary and manufacturing levels in Ghana with a concession size of 21000 ha and a 10 Ton/Hr capacity factory for processing natural rubber to semi-finished rubber bales. The company currently has natural rubber estates in the Western Region of Ghana as well as an out-grower programme for about 9000 small holder farmers operating on more than a 30,000 ha land scattered across 3 regions in Ghana which feeds the rubber processing factory at Apemenim in the western region. As part of GREL’s expansion programme, the company has acquired a new concession for rubber estate development at Awudua, near Tarkwa in the Western region. The total size of the estate is estimated at about 4,271 ha distributed at two contiguous sites at Awudua in the Western Region of Ghana. We as a company thinks that the manner at which we are expanding could impact on biodiversity conservation vis-à-vis the economic and social situations on the people living within surrounding communities.

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

After spending more than 40,000 euros on the HCV assessment by Proforest, a total of 1116 ha of the concession is being conserved as HCV areas including a 240 ha forest tract, buffer zones, wetlands etc to enhance biodiversity. From a research study conducted by KNUST in 2016, the local environment is being improved, as a major River (Ankobra) is being protected with adequate buffer zones along its banks, Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are being collected from the forest for economic purposes and rubber farming for the local communities to improve living standards is also on the ascendancy in the area.

Language(s)

English, Akan

Water

There is the protection of fresh water bodies for 2 major rivers around the concession (Ankobra and Huni River) for the benefit of the local people in terms of fishing and domestic consumption. The protection is through buffer zoning of a width up to 80 m along these rivers.

Food Security/Nutrition

Communities were trained on food crop integration with Rubber plantation farming where small holder farmers are intercropping rubber with food crops such as Plantain, banana, cocoyam, yam etc.

Economic/Sustainable Development

Rubber small holder farmers are earning as much as more than 1,000 dollars a month for a 4 ha farm and those working as employees under the company’s plantation are earning on the average about 200 dollars a month.

Climate

A research study done on the conserved forest indicates that an above and below ground biomass of 88.75 and 4.28 tons/ha respectively contributing to carbon sequestration and enhancing biodiversity

Sustainability

The company’s sustainable land use management is sponsored from the company’s budget. This agriculture management system has been disseminated to small holder rubber farmers through training and other workshops. The company has employed a Land Use manager to be in charge of sustainable land use management where this will be implemented in any part of the company’s development. We also envisage sustainability as long as the small holder farmers come to understand the essence of biodiversity conservation and its implication for future generation. Currently the company and some small holder farmers are even using the approach of slash-and-mulch instead of slash-and-burn to reduce GHG emissions.

Return on investment

The company bought the land at 700 euros/ha and invested over 40,000 euros in completing the HCV assessment from which the recommendations were systematically implemented and followed. We consider this investment as a long term one and its pay back will be indirect through the provision of ecosystem services provision. However, we strongly believe the long term payback benefits justify the investment.

How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

The solution could be replicated for any farming system in any location as far as the aim is to conserve biodiversity. This is very possible through a HCV and High carbon stock assessment by a qualified body such as Proforest. It can be done at an agreed cost per ha and the cost can be reduced if collaborated with the African Practitioners Network (APN) sponsored by DFID. Ours costed us 10 euros/ha.

Overview