Wassa Amenfi Landscape Land Use Dialogue

Wassa-Amenfi Landscape of southwestern Ghana includes a Globally Significant Biodiversity Area at risk of degradation from cocoa production and illegal mining. A landscape approach process in Wassa-Amenfi aims to diversify local community income, clarify land and tree tenure systems, and prevent further land conversion by local large-scale landowners and the government.

The first Wassa Amenfi LUD took place December 3rd- 5th, 2018 through a collaboration with IUCN, Codesult Network, The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, and the Forestry Commission of Ghana. The LUD brought together 47 participants including local farmers, community members, regional and international civil society organizations, private companies, traditional authorities and government institutions. The dialogue followed 4 phases: (1) form shared understanding of social and ecological baselines (2) identify stakeholder visions for a sustainable landscape in 10 years (3) create a shared landscape vision and (4) identify strategies to achieve the envisioned landscape. Identified strategies include the following:

• Improve private sector involvement in sustainable landscapes through partnerships with smallholder farmers and communities
• Diversity and support sustainable community livelihoods
• Conserve natural resources in a multi-functional landscape
• Reclaim and restore degraded areas
• Review compliance and enforcement of laws
• Streamline and simplify process to gain tree tenure and commercialize timber sales, especially as related to REDD+ shade grown cocoa strategies
• Integrate Community Resource Management Areas (CREMAs) in District Assembly governance frameworks and processes
• Build capacity for commercialization of sustainable livelihood activities.
• Create system to ensure research and projects feedback to community members