Extractives, Business and Human Rights

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We are diligently striving to promote sustainable and equitable environmental management, as well as effective governance of natural resources by communities, the government, and private sector actors in Ghana. Through our initiatives, we prioritize the adherence to human rights, transparency, accountability, and respect for communities’ rights in mineral governance.

By fostering collaborative efforts, we aim to enhance the capacity of local communities to participate actively in decision-making processes that affect their environment and livelihoods.

Education and Awareness creation

Education and awareness programs are key components of our strategy, empowering individuals with the knowledge and tools they need to advocate for their rights and sustainable practices.

Our projects also emphasize the importance of preserving biodiversity and protecting ecosystems. We work closely with conservation organizations to develop and implement strategies that safeguard critical habitats and promote the sustainable use of natural resources.

Furthermore, we support the development of policies that encourage responsible mining practices, ensuring that economic benefits are shared equitably and environmental impacts are minimized.

By engaging with all stakeholders, including marginalized groups, we strive to create a more just and sustainable future for all.

Corporate Engagement for ESG.

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A Rocha Ghana is actively promoting environmental sustainability through our Corporate Engagement initiatives, helping businesses recognize the importance of nature. To date, we have collaborated with more than 70 businesses. Through these partnerships, we have implemented various  projects that not only protect biodiversity but also enhance the corporate social responsibility profiles of these companies. We offer tailored workshops and training sessions that equip businesses with the knowledge and tools needed to adopt eco-friendly practices. By integrating sustainability into their core operations, companies can reduce their carbon footprint, minimize waste, and contribute positively to the global environmental agenda.  

Business in Environmental Stewardship Network (BESNet)

 

BESNet is a business network coordinated by A Rocha Ghana in collaboration with IUCN Ghana. It has a membership of 34 businesses and has engaged a further 20. The network is committed to promoting and supporting natural capital inclusion,  security in business development, and company production value chains. 

Read More on BESNet

Green Corporate Star Awards

A Rocha Ghana (ARG) has partnered with EMY Africa for the past six years to acknowledge and reward businesses or corporate entities that prioritize green practices and environmental sustainability in their operations. This collaboration also aims to support green initiatives that align with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 3, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15.

The award serves to emphasize the importance of business leaders and corporate organizations in championing environmental sustainability while they focus on their primary objective of generating profit.

2023 GCS Award Winners-The Good Roll
2022 GCS Award Winners-Coliba
2021 GCS Award Winners- Zaacoal
2020 GCS Award Winner- Nelplast Ghana
2019 GCS Award Winner- Guinness Ghana
2018 GCS Award Winner- Blue Skies

Resilience Against Climate Change (REACH) Project

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European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) co-funded, Resilience Against Climate Change (REACH) project being implemented in Northern Ghana.

Project Context

The project aims to address the increasing effects of climate change on the agricultural sector in Northern Ghana by enhancing resilience and promoting sustainable development in the sector.

Overall, the REACH project is targeted at enabling a sustainable and inclusive improvement in the rural economy through enhanced implementation of gender-sensitive climate adaptation practices in the EUGAP targeted communities in Northern Ghana by 2025, with a particular focus on smallholder farmers.

Achievements

  • Establishment and support to Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs),
  • Conservation Agriculture (CA)
  • Agroforestry
  • Community Fire Management.

Ghana Shea Emission Reductions Project (GSLERP)

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Project Context

The project is being implemented with the Savannah Fruits Company (SFC) to restore off-reserve savannah forests/woodlands, degraded shea parklands, and to create an integrated monitoring system for safeguards, forest monitoring and reporting systems in Community Resource Management Areas (CREMAs).

Funders: Green Climate Fund, UNDP, Forestry Commission, Global Shea Alliance (GSA)

Objectives

The project outputs are focused on restoring and sustainably managing the shea parklands and strengthening value chains for shea processing with specificity on setting up of community nurseries, tree planting and parkland management training activities, warehouse construction, cooperative development and improvement in the capacities, technologies and
efficiency of women.

Achievements

  • Establishment of 6 tree nurseries to raise shea and non-shea seedlings
  • Restoration of degraded landscapes
  • Training in Parkland Management
  • Women training in cooperative development, governance, improved technology, business management aggregation, auditing, marketing, quality etc.
  • Construction of Warehouse

Mobilizing More for Climate (MoMo4C)

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Project Context

Mobilizing More for Climate (MoMo4C) is a five-year programme (2020-2024) funded by the Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry in partnership with IUCN NL, WWF NL, and Tropenbos International which seek to Develop Innovative Finance for Climate Action Using a Landscape Approach. In Ghana, the program is being implemented by A Rocha Ghana and Tropenbos Ghana in the Mole and Juabeso-Bia Landscape respectively.
The programme aims to bring together entrepreneurs, corporates, policymakers, investors, and civil society organisations to make green business propositions. These should tackle the impacts and causes of climate change at a landscape level in developing countries, contribute to climate-resilience and (gender) inclusive, sustainable development in the landscapes where they are proposed, and attract investments to implement these initiatives.

Objectives

  • Create the Enabling Environment for state agencies, the private sector, and civil society organizations to towards the goal.

 

  • Support the development of Business Cases for Public and Private Investors.

 

  • Harvest lessons for sharing and ensuring the sustainability of programs initiated

Achievement

  • Climate Vulnerability Assessment
  • Support to Protected Area Management Advisory Units (PAMAUs)
  • Green business training for youth and women
  • Business incubation for 20 businesses
  • Financial and technical support to 3 selected businesses

Project Duration: 5 YEARS.
Funded by: Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry in partnership with IUCN NL, WWF NL, and Tropenbos International
Implementing Partners: A Rocha Ghana, Tropenbos Ghana

EconoBio II

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Funded by the French Development Agency (AFD) through Noe, the ECONOBIO II projects has the goal of developing green value chains for the benefit of local populations living on the outskirts of biodiversity-rich areas, with the support of the private sector and civil society.

Objectives

  • Contribute to the development of sustainable economic sectors in and around protected areas (focus on beekeeping and Shea nut picking and processing which aimed at strengthening the local governance structure for the management of the Community Resource Management Areas (CREMA)
  • Improve biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of natural resources by communities
  • Sustain the model by strengthening the civil society players and by capitalizing and disseminating the project lessons learnt

Major Achievements

  • Operationalization of tripartite Conservation Agreements (CA) between Savannah Fruits Company (Private Sector), 4 CREMAs and A Rocha Ghana.
  • Mobilizing, training, equipping and registering 12 Shea Nut /Butter Cooperatives and 12 Beekeeping Cooperatives.
    Provision of beehives and sets of Overall suits, veils, hand gloves, wellington boots, smokers and harvesting tools and buckets.
  • Operationalization of Honey Processing Center to facilitate the aggregation and processing of honey and Wax.
  • Support to over 600 shea women, 450 beekeepers, 35 patrollers, 40 nursery workers, 66 CREMA management committees.
  • Strengthening Community Forest patrols by revamping and supporting the Community Resource Monitoring Unit (CRMU) in all the CREMA Communities to monitor, record and report activities of wildlife presence, biodiversity, logging, poaching and charcoal activities in the Landscape. With the use of the Open Data Kit (ODK) Collect App and the Event Book System, the 35 member CRMUs have conducted over 200 patrols.
  • Rehabilitation of degraded areas with indigenous trees such as shea, dawadawa, rosewood, baobab, papao (Afzelia Africana), kapok, mahogany etc. through Woodlot, Enrichment Planting, Agroforestry and Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). Over 200,000 seedlings were planted on 450 ha of degraded lands.
  • Development and implementation of environmental awareness programs for schools (45 schools) and community members through the formation of environment clubs in schools and radio programs (30 sessions) with an average reach of 10,000 listeners.
  • Strengthening the CREMA Structures whereby the Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) plays an important role in the governing and management of resources (forest and wildlife) within a geographical defined area. Election and Capacity building for executive committees.
  • Support to the Mole Ecological Landscape Conservation Trust Fund (MELCTF) which is aimed at ensuring long term financing of the CREMA. 

Project Duration: 4 YEARS.
Funded by: French Development Agency (AFD) 
Project Implementing Lead: A Rocha Ghana

Shea butter processing

Beekeeping

Nursery/Planting/Restoration

Transboundary monitoring of timber trafficking in Ghana-USFS

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Project Purpose

The aim of the project is to develop a robust 3rd party monitoring programme that empowers CSOs and communities to contribute to addressing the challenges posed by illegal logging and timber trafficking in Ghana. A major goal is to make this programme so useful that it finds a permanent place in the forestry sector of Ghana where it can be maintained, expanded, and updated on an ongoing basis, thereby ultimately contributing to sustainable forest management and conservation efforts.

Project Goal

Contribute to effectively addressing drivers of illegal logging and timber trafficking along the supply chain by implementing a robust third-party monitoring framework led by CSOs in Ghana; in partnership with communities and the Ghana’s VPA third-party monitor.

Target Landscapes

Upper East, Upper West, Bono, Western North Regions.

Project Objectives

  1. A Rocha Ghana and its CSO network’s capacity enhanced to confidently identify timber species and process timber identification as well as understand the relevant regulations governing timber logging, processing and trade in Ghana.
  2. Increase awareness on timber trafficking with evidence gathered from the monitoring programme.
  3. An inclusive monitoring system and tools developed by A Rocha Ghana and networks partners adopted for joint monitoring activities with communities, Forestry Commission and CEPS.

More Info

The project aims to establish a reliable third-party monitoring system that enables Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and communities to play a role in combating the issues associated with illegal logging and timber trafficking in Ghana. Here are the key points of the initiative:

  • Strong partnerships will be forged with local stakeholders, including community members, environmental groups, and law enforcement agencies.
  • Training sessions will empower CSOs and community members to monitor and document instances of timber trafficking effectively.
  • Advanced technologies like the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) application, utilizing satellite imagery and GPS tracking, will enhance monitoring accuracy and efficiency.
  • The use of tools such as the Xylorix pocket wood app and Xylorix Inspector for wood identification will address challenges related to wrong identification of wood within the timber value chain.

Project Duration: 10 Months
Funded by: US Forest Service
Project Implementing Lead: A Rocha Ghana
Implementing Partners: ORGIIS Ghana,  Community Partners For Development-Ghana (COMPAD-GH), The Resource Foundation 

Technical Support: Timber Industry Development Division (TIDD) of Forestry Commission

Project Launch: Gallery
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Press Release: Notice of Civil Action Against the Government of Ghana

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Recent developments resulting from the active actions of the Government of Ghana, which has led to unprecedented risk to convert Ghana’s protected forests such as Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas (GSBAs) into logging and mining areas have compelled us to issue a formal notice of intent to pursue civil action against the Government of Ghana.

Our constituent team of CSOs include, A Rocha Ghana, Tropenbos Ghana, Civic Response, Nature and Development Foundation, and EcoCare Ghana. We have taken this critical step in accordance with Section 19(1) of the State Proceedings Act, 1998 (Act 555), to fulfil our constitutional duty in safeguarding the natural environment, as enshrined in Article 41(k) of the 1992 Constitution.

While acknowledging the Government’s developmental objectives and the imperative need to utilize natural resources for national progress, we are of the conviction that such utilization must strictly adhere to legal frameworks outlined in the 1992 Constitution, the Timber Resources Management Act, 1998 (ACT 547) as amended, and the Timber Resources Management and Licensing Regulation, 2017 (LI 2254). Of particular concern is the recent declassification of Globally Significant Biodiversity Areas (GSBAs) within some forest reserves including the Subri River Forest Reserve and Krokosua Hills Forest Reserve, and the subsequent awarding of a Timber Utilization Contract to some logging Companies to operate in same.

 

See Full Statement HERE

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BRACE project launched to improve sustainable mining to safeguard the environment and protect people

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The European Union (EU) has launched the, “Building Resilient and Active Communities in Extractive Landscapes in Ghana (BRACE)”, project aimed at improving sustainable mining to safeguard the environment and protect individuals living in mining areas. BRACE underscores EU’s strong commitment to fostering responsible resource extraction practices that prioritize environmental preservation and the well-being of local communities. With EUR 1.718 million funding from the European Union, the BRACE project, implemented by a consortium of not-for-profit organisations (Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) and Nature and Development Foundation (NDF)) led by A Rocha Ghana, also aims to ensure adherence to human rights, transparency, and accountability in mineral governance by contributing to sustainable and equitable environmental management and good natural resource governance in Ghana. See Full Press Statement HERE