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The Forestry Research Institute of Ghana of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-FORIG) has cautioned farmers against the clearing or cutting of tree species in their farms for agricultural production.
It has observed that all the tree species of economic values in the country were being cut down, thus reducing massively carbon storage in the country.
According to the Council, preserving and enhancing carbon storage was crucial for mitigating climate change, maintaining ecosystem health, and ensuring a sustainable future, especially in carbon trading.
Dr Reginald T. Guuroh, Principal Investigator at the CSIR-FORIG, mentioned these to the Ghanaian Times here at the sideline of the opening ceremony of a workshop on greenhouse gas determination in West Africa’s agricultural landscape.
The five-day workshop brought several research scientists from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Germany and Niger, to discuss greenhouse gas emission from land uses in the three West African Countries (Burkina Faso, Ghana and Niger).
It was under the auspices of CSIR-FORIG and GreenGade Consortium, a research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Dr Guuroh appealed to farmers to adopt climate smart agriculture by retaining the tree species on their crop lands and also reduce the amount of chemicals being used as they (chemicals) emitted greenhouse gas that contributed to climate change.
He was worried that with the current agricultural practice of removing the tree species, “if care is not taken Ghana can lose big time in carbon trading.”
It is recalled, Ghana’s carbon credit supply was projected to reach 33 metric tons in 2023 unlocking $500million in capital.
Ghana earned $4,862, 280 million in 2023 for reducing nearly one million tons of carbon emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation.
Dr Guuroh further noted that, “the more we leave the trees the more carbon is stored…and less carbon stored means more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, thus exacerbating climate change.”
On her part, Prof. Anja Linstaedter, Overall Greegade consortium Principal Investigator, noted the impact of climate change was increasing with agricultural production itself being major sources of direct greenhouse gas emission.
She stated that the Consortium was evaluating greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage dynamics related to agricultural sector at national and regional scales in West Africa.
Prof. Linstaedter underlined that they were guiding national and regional climate change adaptation policies and strategies “to develop strategies to accelerate the implementation of climate smart agriculture approaches among smallholders’ farmers.”
Earlier, Dr Kwame Antwi Oduro, Director, CSIR-FORIG, underlined that the Institute’s research activities in forestry, biodiversity, climate change, environment and policy have been the backbone of Ghana’s forestry sector.
He noted that climate change was a major environmental challenge of global concern “that requires concerted efforts to solve.”
And, thanked the Consortium for timely efforts to address climate change and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in Ghana and the selected countries.
FROM KINGSLEY E. HOPE, KUMASI
