FCMC organizes workshop on mangroves and climate change in Ghana
An expert's workshop on Mangroves and Climate Change in West Africa was held in Elmina, Ghana, from May 18-22, 2014. The workshop was organized by FCMC and the US Forest Service (USFS) Office of International Programs, in collaboration with the USAID West Africa Regional Mission. The workshop brought together over 40 practitioners, policy makers and researchers from the West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. Technical resource experts from Cameroon and Senegal also contributed. USAID was represented by Bradley Wallach, the Deputy Mission Director for West Africa, technical staff from the West Africa Mission, as well as USAID/Washington staff, Olaf Zerbock, of the USAID Forest and Biodiversity Office and the FCMC Contracting Officer’s Representative, and Evan Notman from the Climate Change Office. Regional research and policy institutions, such as the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), also participated.
The desired goal of the workshop was to increase awareness of importance of mangroves for climate change mitigation and adaptation. There were several specific objectives pursued during the course of the workshop. These included: elevating the importance of mangrove benefits to national and regional level policymakers, researchers and practitioners regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation, including REDD+, as well as non-climate goods and services, such as economic and livelihood benefits (e.g., non-timber forest products and fisheries), biodiversity conservation and others; strengthening the dialogue between policy, practice and research on mangroves and climate change; and identifying research gaps and opportunities within climate change mitigation, adaptation and mangroves at the national and regional levels.
To achieve these outcomes, the workshop focused on increasing linkages between policies, such as the Mangrove Charter embedded in the regional Abidjan Convention, practice, such as mangrove REDD+ pilot sites, and research, such as on the values of various ecosystem goods and services. In addition to the interactive workshop sessions, a one-day field trip to the Anlo Beach community was organized. There is a mangrove restoration project underway at Anlo Beach and participants were able to interact with community members and hear directly how climate change and other factors, such as mangrove deforestation and degradation, were impacting their lives and livelihoods. The Anlo Beach project is being implemented by the Ghanaian nongovernmental organization Friends of the Nation, and participants were able to observe first hand some of the project’s initiatives, such as mangrove restoration and improved fish smoking ovens intended to reduce the amount of fuel wood needed to smoke fish.
Participants had the opportunity to work in-country, as well as regional groups in addition to policy, practice and research groups. This facilitated the final day’s session, which provided the various country and regional groups the opportunity to present their priorities for action in the areas of climate change and mangroves. Examples of these on the national level included policy recommendations, such as the development of national strategies and policies for sustainable mangrove management taking into account climate change, research recommendations, including quantifying the carbon stocks and other ecosystem services of mangroves, and practice recommendations such as conducting a technical needs assessment for the implementation of mangroves and climate change projects. On the regional level recommendations included that ECOWAS host a regional database of mangroves and climate change projects including results and best practices, and develops a sub-regional strategy and action plan on sustainable management of West African mangroves. The need for policy/practice dialogues to formulate workable policy and legal frameworks was also underscored.
The overarching outcomes of the workshop included strengthening regional networks of mangrove practitioners, and forging or strengthening national and regional partnerships between policy, research and practice around mangroves and climate change. Since the workshop several participants have noted that they are already starting to put some of the information and recommendations from the workshop into practice. A detailed workshop report including action steps for moving forward across policy, practice and research priorities is available here.
