The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has approved support for a project, to be implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), to promote transboundary protected area management in the frontier between Ghana and Ivory Coast.
The project will seek to lessen the forest loss, degradation, and fragmentation with the region, in contribution to two of the Aichi Targets.
10 September 2012: The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is providing support for a project, implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), to implement a transboundary management agreement for the long-term sustainable management of protected areas and their buffer zones in the Bia-Diambarakro area, at the frontier between Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire.
The GEF will provide US$859,000, and an additional US$1.59 million will be provided in co-finance.
The “Development of a trans-frontier conservation area linking forest reserves and protected areas in Ghana and Ivory Coast” project will focus on three tasks: increase the protected areas’ staff and local communities’ abilities to conserve biodiversity; strengthen forest tenure to reinforce local communities’ control and ownership of natural resources; and reduce conflict between humans and wildlife.
The overarching goal of the project is to lessen the forest loss, degradation, and fragmentation with the region, in contribution to two of the Aichi Targets. It is anticipated that 7,000 hectares of forest will be restored and that tree cover will increase by 30% in 200 hectares of organic cocoa farms. It is also expected that the local elephant population will be stabilized. [GEF Press Release]