UNDP launch $1 million OneTreePlanted programme to restore the Black Volta Landscape
In support of Ghana’s climate action agenda, UNDP has launched a $1m programme to plant 5 million trees to restore degraded areas in the Black Volta landscape.
The ‘OneTreePlanted’ programme to plan five million trees by 2024 was launched under the UNDP Global Environment Facility Small Grant Programme (GEF/SGP) at Maluwe in the Bole Bamboi District of the Savannah region of Ghana.
The programme will enhance capacity and supply various seedlings including Cassia, Mahogany, Cashew, and Mango to selected communities in the Black Volta landscape for planting. The aim is to fight environmental degradation and promote sustainable livelihood enterprises in the landscape.
The Black Volta landscape is an international water ecosystem that generates clean energy from the Bui hydropower for national development. The landscape also provides haven to globally threatened species including hippopotamus, elephants, and Buffalos. It is also known that crop production from this landscape contributes 37.5% of yam, 11.3% of cassava, 17.2% of maize and 28.7% of local rice to the national totals. The area thus supports livelihood services for over one million indigenous people.
The prosperity and sustainable management of the Black Volta landscape is therefore a great priority for national development. Unfortunately, the landscape has been subjected to environmental abuses over the years. The area experiences uncontrolled wildfire, illegal mining, uncontrolled harvesting of wood for timber and charcoal, and unsustainable farming practices. A trend analysis shows that if nothing is done, Ghana is likely to lose the potential of the Black Volta landscape as a natural resource for national development. It is very important to enhance the resilience of the communities to climate change impacts and thus reduce poverty, and this requires partnerships.
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