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Forest context

Ghana’s forests are a cornerstone of its cultural heritage, biodiversity, and economy. The country has a diverse mix of landscapes, with three main ecological zones: savannah, high forest and transition zones. Across these zones, agriculture shapes land use with various food and cash crops being produced, including cocoa, rubber and timber, and is in some cases driving forest loss. Deforestation continues to take place due to agricultural expansion, logging, illegal mining (galamsey), wildfires, charcoal production, and livestock grazing. In response to these challenges, Ghana has built robust governance and policy frameworks to promote forest restoration and ensure commodity production is deforestation-free and legal. 

Our Approach

EFI collaborates with stakeholders including government, producer associations, civil society, and the private sector in Ghana. Our work is structured around several key areas:

  • Cocoa sector – we support COCOBOD, Forestry Commission and other actors to integrate geolocation and spatial data, legality information, and deforestation risk assessment tools to promote deforestation-free, traceable, and sustainable cocoa supply chains. We also support implementation of the African Regional Standard for Sustainable Cocoa (ARS 1000) in Ghana.
  • Forest restoration – we support CSOs and other local actors by sharing best practices and building capacity for forest restoration. Through our grant scheme, NGOs restore degraded forests and strengthen community-led resource management. Results from these projects inform policy discussions to strengthen Ghana’s long-term restoration strategy.
  • Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) – we support the Forestry Commission in strengthening its timber tracking and legality verification system, building capacity on FLEGT licensing, and raising awareness in international markets. We also support multistakeholder platforms to monitor the timber sector for illegal activities and advance dialogue on tree tenure, thereby strengthening forest governance.

Projects in Ghana

Project

Sustainable Cocoa Programme

We support the EU Flagship Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa, in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Cameroon.

  • Inclusive governance
A group of women sit outdoors processing a large harvest of cocoa beans spread across the ground.
Project

EFI Rapid Response Programme

We support countries to address their forest governance and land use challenges, and act to strengthen forest governance and forest climate change…

  • Inclusive governance
Aerial view of a rainforest and a river
Project

EU FLEGT Facility

We supported the EU and timber-producing countries in the implementation of the FLEGT Action Plan with a focus on Voluntary Partnership Agreements.

  • Inclusive governance
A man in a high-visibility vest uses a yellow measuring tape to record the diameter of a large fallen log in a dense forest, while two colleagues look on.

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