An international workshop on Clean Development Mechanism –
Opportunities and challenges for forest industry sector in sub-Saharan tropical Africa

Ghana

The Kyoto protocol signed in 1997 provides opportunities for the forest and wood products industries to contribute significantly to the mitigation of global warming because of the ability of sustainably managed forests and plantations to sequester large quantities of atmospheric carbon. However very little activity has taken place in Africa in order to explore these opportunities, and it is the only continent where CDM projects are quasi-inexistent. The present Ghanaian proposal underlines this problem and defines a project whose development objective is to promote the opportunities existing in tropical timber producing African countries for participation in CDM projects including the possible development of carbon markets to generate additional external funds in support of sustainable forest management. The specific objective is to organize an international workshop aimed at identifying opportunities in tropical timber producing countries for participation in CDM projects, as well as improving understanding and identifying constraints and challenges. The two outputs of the project are: (1) an international workshop on climate change, and (2) the proceedings of the workshop.

The target beneficiaries include the private and public sector energy companies, the forest and wood products industry sectors in African tropical timber producing countries, African research and educational institutions engaged in carbon forestry research, African and international forest and wood products policy makers, international investors interested in commercial tree plantations, NGOs with a stake in SFM, donor countries focusing on poverty alleviation in Africa.

Final report

ITTO 2008: Final Report, 2p.

Progress report

November 2008

The Executing Agency has submitted the completion report and the workshop proceedings to the ITTO Secretariat in accordance with the project agreement signed with ITTO. In November 2008, the Committee on Reforestation and Forest Management declared this project complete, subject to the submission of the final audited financial statements on the use of project funds.

December 2007

In accordance with the project's most recent progress report submitted in September 2007, and the Third Project Steering Committee meeting held in April 2007, progress in project implementation can be summarized as follows:

• The International Workshop on Clean Development Mechanism - Opportunities and Challenges for the Forest Industry Sector in Sub-Saharan Tropical Africa was held on 2-5 October 2006 in Accra, Ghana. The workshop was attended by over 80 delegates from ITTO producer and consumer member countries, Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) member countries in Africa and representatives from Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. Speakers were drawn from the ITTO, FAO, UNFCCC, UNDP, COMIFAC, CIFOR, Joannuem Institute, Intercooperation, Corporacion Ecoversa, EcoSecurities and the African Development Bank;
• The major outcome of the workshop was enhanced appreciation of the significant opportunities available to Africa under the Kyoto Protocol's CDM in attracting new and additional investments in support of forestry and renewable energy projects. The role of forestry and renewable energy projects in contributing to the mitigation of global warming was thoroughly explained, as well as the methodologies for identifying and developing eligible projects. The main recommendation from the workshop was the need to urgently increase Africa's capacity in the identification and preparation of CDM projects. Participants recommended that ITTO consider follow-up work on capacity building in CDM project formulation by taking advantage of the momentum generated by the workshop;
• The outcome of the International Workshop was introduced to the ITTO Newsletter, Tropical Forest Update (2006, No 4)(in English or French);
• The workshop proceedings have been edited. The French version will be published in the first half of 2008.
  

Documentation

Asumadu K. 2006: Workshop on creating awareness in Africa on Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) forestry projects, ITTO Tropical Forest Update 16/4, p. 27. [English] and [Français]