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Accra, Ghana

Although there have been three Katoomba Group meetings in Africa - Uganda (2005), South Africa (2006), and Tanzania (2008) - this will be the first in West Africa.  It is timely in that PES interest in the region is fast increasing while the region’s forests are under immense threat. In the past 15 years, West Africa has lost 1.4 million hectares or 26 percent of primary ‘old growth’ forest, leaving about 1.5 percent of the area under primary forest cover. The rate of deforestation has also significantly increased since the 1990s. Alternative solutions to traditional approaches are therefore urgently needed. 


Ghana, Liberia, and Cameroon have initial funding from the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) to submit national “Readiness Plans” (R-Plans) for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD); there are some emerging private sector initiatives to develop ‘forest carbon’ credits; and a “biodiversity offset” project in Ghana, in which a mining company is aiming to offset its environmental and social footprint, is at the planning stage. These early developments are encouraging, but there is an enormous need for information and capacity-building in order to develop these new opportunities. The main themes of this Katoomba Meeting are as follows: 

 
REDD 
The Meeting focused on key challenges for the planning and development of national REDD strategies. These include, for example: 

  • understanding what REDD might mean in different national contexts 

  • how to create economic incentives for local stakeholders; 

  • how to combine ‘sub-national’ REDD projects with national level accounting; 

  • the challenge of ‘pro-poor REDD,’ including benefit sharing mechanisms; 

  • development of Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems. 

 

This meeting was also timely in terms of helping country representatives fine tune their positions on REDD issues prior to the watershed meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen in December 2009. It was hoped there would be a political agreement on the basic architecture of REDD in a post-Kyoto regime. 
  

SOIL CARBON AND OTHER TERRESTRIAL CARBON OPTIONS 
Most attention in regards climate change mitigation has been on forests. But there is increasing impetus to discuss soil carbon as part of a “Beyond REDD” package at Copenhagen. The storage or sequestration of carbon through soil-conserving agricultural practices could also have major poverty reduction benefits for Africa. Among ideas being floated is an ‘African Food Security Carbon Fund’ based on soil carbon. At this meeting, world experts discussed the potential and challenges of soil carbon for Africa. Another very important agricultural area is tree crops. For example, cocoa farming is a key driver of deforestation in Ghana, but presents an opportunity for using carbon finance to promote a sustainable agroforestry system. The potential and challenges for realizing this opportunity were also be a key discussion point for the meeting. 

PAYMENTS FOR BIODIVERSITY 
The continuing erosion of West Africa's forests is putting pressure on the region's rich biodiversity. Home to more than a quarter of Africa's mammals, including lowland gorillas and chimpanzees, and more than 1,800 endemic species of plants, West Africa has been named one of the world's 34 biodiversity hotspots by Conservation International (CI).  While 17 percent of the region's forests is technically under some form of protection, CI notes that only 3 percent of the area is conserved for biodiversity purposes. This means there is a great urgency to develop PES experiences and capacity in the region. In this meeting we will particularly explore the potential for biodiversity offsets and conservation banking, drawing on regional and international experience. 

 

MARINE AND COASTAL ECOSYSTEM SERVICES 
Another key area is marine and coastal ecosystem services.  Most countries in the region share the Guinea coast, and there is an urgent need to incentivize the protection of wetlands and mangrove systems (such as the Amanzuri wetlands in Ghana and the Marshall wetlands in Liberia). These ecosystems buffer storm surges, provide critical habitats, harbor significant carbon stocks, and play a major role in the formation and export of ‘dissolved organic matter’ to the ocean. In southwest Ghana, the planned exploitation of off-shore oil reserves threatens the richest biodiversity (terrestrial and aquatic) pool in the country, not to mention the significant carbon and tourism values. This meeting discussed the potential and challenges to developing PES options for marine and coastal ecosystem services. 

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OUTCOMES 
Based on discussions of these themes, key outcomes of this Katoomba Meeting included: 

  • Guidance for negotiating teams and civil society going to Copenhagen; 

  • Discussion of REDD options for Central Africa and agreement on key issues for a proposed Katoomba Group meeting in the Congo Region in 2010; 

  • Increased collaboration among Katoomba Group members on critical ecosystem challenges in West Africa; 

  • Refining the agenda of the Katoomba Group and the ‘Katoomba Ecosystem Services Incubator’ in the region over the next five years. 

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