The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved $24 million to boost Ghana’s forestry sector.
The funds will be channeled towards restoring degraded forest reserves and expanding an existing FSC-certified forest plantation to nearly 12,000 hectares of sustainable commercial forest plantation.
The forestry sector contributes about 4% to Ghana’s GDP and provides jobs for 650,000 people. The expansion will create 400 new jobs and 600 direct seasonal jobs and nearly half of these jobs will employ women.
Paul Hol, executive director of Form International, said, “This is a breakthrough for private investments in forestry on the continent.
“It will be paramount to the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) from the World Resources Institute (WRI) and NEPAD which aims at restoring 100 million hectares of land in Africa by 2030.”
