An Overview Of Our Solution
Form Ghana is a forest plantation management company that actively restores degraded Forest Reserves with forest plantations & natural forest restoration. Form Ghana applies a unique concept for forest restoration on degraded lands that effectively integrates biodiversity conservation in commercial reforestation in an innovative manner. Reforestation is done with teak (for financial return) and indigenous species along streams and in buffer zones. Remnant trees and forest patches are conserved and expanded throughout the plantations, with great benefit to flora and fauna and forest structure. Restoring the forest habitat attracts the flora and fauna that belongs to it. The business model is based on future revenues from timber sales and carbon revenue (multiple income model). The activities are carried out with important stakeholders & inhabitants of the region.
Who is this solution impacting?
Community Type
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: Africa
General Information
Organization type
Corporação
Ecosystem (select all that apply)
Forests
Population impacted
Ca 3,500 people
Challenge
Size of agricultural area
Currently 7,800 ha reforested; to be extended
Production quantity
1,000 – 5,000 m3 FSC-certified teak per year (in next 5 years)
People employed
1,000
Solution
Describe your solution
Form Ghana developed its own unique model to promote changes in human activities:
- The degraded lands managed by the Forestry Commission of Ghana, and are leased by Form Ghana. The plans are embedded in the local policies.
- Public private partnership (PPP) is signed, including also the local communities
- Benefit sharing arrangements with the government, traditional leaders and their communities (20% of standing tree value under the PPP)
- A successful intercropping system has been developed and implemented since 2008
- The business model is not based on subsidies, but on green investments and a return on investment provided by the timber sales from teak and carbon credits.
- A combination of a fast growing commercial species with native species.
- The project plan does not only cover reforestation, but includes sustainable management and maintenance of the reforested area
- The operations include land preparation, seed collection, raising of seedlings, etc...
- Most of the work is done by local people.
- The forest management is done according FSCTM principles and criteria.
- Carbon credits were certified in 2013 under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) as the first reforestation project in West Africa.
- Form’s approach has led to strong local buy-in from Forestry Commission, traditional land owners and local communities due to the benefit sharing, job creation, intercropping and positive spirit of collaboration and restoration of the environment.
Implementation
Describe your implementation
Implementation has been done stepwise.
The company operates in two Forest Management Units (FMU): The Akumadan FMU with 3,500 hectares and the Berekum FMU with 14,500 hectares. Land leases are secured for over 18,000 ha (50 years) and is in the process to acquire more.
The company established 1,000-2,000 ha of reforestation per annum over the past years. To date, 7,800 ha of forest plantations (90% Teak and 10% indigenous species) have been established.
The company has obtained FSC certification in January 2010 as the first forestry company in West Africa. In 2013, VCS certification was obtained for the climate change benefits of the plantations. Form Ghana has nurseries with a capacity of 5 million trees per year.
Form Ghana has investment plans in place to further grow to 12,000 hectares planted by 2020 and aims for further expansion to grow to at least 20,000 hectares planted by 2030. Over the next years, timber harvesting, processing and sales activities will be deployed in parallel to planting.
The main obstacles are:
- To obtain investment funding; investors will have to wait at least 10-12 years, to have revenues from timber sales.
- Sufficient rainfall for the planted trees to survive; trees are planted in the rainy season.
- Lower the risk of wild fires. Fire risk is generally high, because of the dry weeds that are present, especially in young plantations. Form Ghana has a fire fighting plan.
External connections
Key partners:
- Forestry Commission of Ghana; Ghanaian Forest Service
- Form international: providing management support and technical advice on reforestation and management
- Paramount chiefs of Berekum and Offinso Traditional Council
- African Development Bank and Form Ghana’s investors: providing investments
- Dutch embassy in Ghana
- Universities and knowledge institutions, such as Wageningen Agricultural University, University of applied sciences Van Hall Larenstein, Forest Research Institute Ghana (FORIG), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), WRI
- NGO’s, such as WWF, IUCN, Tropenbos International
- FSC international
Results
What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?
Every year, the southern hemisphere loses about 15 million hectares of Forest. Reforestation and restoration in Africa is vital and has to be done sustainably. In the project area notably annual bush fires have completely destroyed the remaining forests and seriously threaten ecosystem health and local livelihoods. If you seek social and financial support, it needs to be attractive. For example by creating revenues from timber sales. A good business model is crucial to become truly successful. The challenge was (and is in some places) to counteract degradation and turn the land into a viable, sustainable land-use, with profit for people and planet. The reforestation project restores a biodiverse forest landscape, creates jobs and enhances local economic development, but also contributes to climate change mitigation by sequestrating carbon
Describe the context in which you are operating
Whereas the forestry sector in Ghana is of great economic, ecological and social importance, forest resources are disappearing and degrading at alarming pace. Forest degradation has reduced the forest cover in Ghana from 8,5 million hectares to 1,5 million hectares. This degradation was caused by logging, forest fires and unsustainable agriculture. Population growth has followed an inverse trend and is now at 25 million. The remaining forest in Ghana is under ever increasing pressure. Because land is now less available and there are less jobs in forestry and timber transformation, young people tend to move to larger cities or migrate broad. Ghana’s National Forest Plantation Strategy aims to restore forest functions in degraded forest areas and safeguard the sector’s economic importance for the future by planting 20,000 hectares of new forest per year over the next 25 years. Form Ghana, a leading FSC certified sustainable plantation management company, has a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the Forestry Commission and traditional land owners to develop plantations in degraded Forest Reserves to contribute to the national plantation strategy.
How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?
Tree biodiversity was low when Form Ghana started its activities; less than 60 species were recorded. Biodiversity is aimed to increase from 56 to 70 indigenous tree species of the critically endangered Eastern Guinean low land forest in the project period, as a first step to full restoration with 105 species in 50 years (accelerated process by active planting of rare and nurse tree species).
In 2011, biodiversity has been monitored, just a few years after the first reforestations, and the main conclusion was that species diversity had increased already. Also monitoring of small and medium size mammals and snakes has been done. Biodiversity monitoring reports can be found on the Form Ghana website (downloads): http://www.formghana.com/downloads.
The next fauna monitoring will be conducted this year. It is expected that fauna inventories will show a positive figure regarding population dynamics and number of species.
Language(s)
Which language(s) are spoken in the area where your solution is implemented?
Water
The quality of the water is expected to improve due to the restoration of buffer zones and reduction of erosion on the plantation surface. Hydrology monitoring takes place in order to assess the effect of the various stages of plantation establishment on the rivers and streams on the plantation. Rainfall is measured and monitored, see monitoring reports http://www.formghana.com/downloads. Through planting trees a microclimate returns, whereas before planting, evapotranspiration was high due to c
Food Security/Nutrition
Farming is not allowed in Forest Reserves, but through intercropping farmers are enabled to assist tree plantation establishment through intercropping of food crops. This has enhanced their food security since the intercropping has created legal land access for this group. The company offers intercropping agreements to all interested farmers providing free land access. This is a win-win situation. Combining optimal use of the land surface with available arable land for farmers and induced weedi
Economic/Sustainable Development
The economic development of the project is closely related to the economic and sustainable development of the area and its inhabitants. The benefit sharing model, part of the Public Private Partnership, allows 20% of the standing tree value to go to the Forestry Commission and the local community (through thechief).
Climate
An important environmental service of the project is the capturing of CO2. This project is managed to the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) criteria. The VCS measures CO2 captivation and awards carbon credits. It is calculated this project will capture about 2.8 million tons of CO2 within 40 years.
Sustainability
Economic sustainability in our vision is only possible when relying on market-based revenues, from timber sales and carbon credits in this case. As forestry is a long term activity, investments need to be made first, to overcome the period between planting and harvesting. Investors are convinced by providing sound business models with a solid return on investment. The choice to include a fast growing commercial species is made to have revenues at a relatively short period of time. Grant funding or subsidies are sometimes used for research and development projects that can support the business case.
Return on investment
Total investment so far is US$ 20 million.
The majority of the costs were invested in the set-up and establishment of the reforestation site; equipment, nursery, buildings, maintenance activities, plant material and planting of teak and indigenous species. Next to that, a large part of the costs are linked to labor. As a company, focus lies specifically on job creation, training of the workforces, and capacitate local employees with skills to take leadership and directing workforces. Continuous costs are reserved for monitoring the planting sites, survival of trees, yield and growth, biodiversity, soils, hydrology, and pests and diseases.
Entrant Banner Image
Replication and Scale
How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?
At this moment we are also looking into funding for extending our activities to an integrated landscape approach assisting also other land users to restore their lands effectively with our support.
Form International also started a company in Tanzania in 2013 that builds on the Ghana experience and combines agriculture (sisal), commercial forestry and nature restoration. Since 2016, Form International also started collaborating with IUCN and other partners to develop landscape restoration projects in the shea parklands and Atewa FR buffer zone in Ghana, showing raised interest in Form’s unique approach.
The model is also easily replicable in other areas, as long as the enabling conditions and risk factors are dealt with in coherence. The combination of a fast growing commercial species with other native trees is key. The soil and climate circumstances need to be taken into account when the species choice is made.