According to him, the carbon market is the new ‘gold’ every country specifically African countries are tapping to boost their socio-economy.

Currently, countries are using the carbon market to explore various investment opportunities available.

Businesses cannot be doing the same thing they used to do 10 years ago.

Ghanaian businesses should be innovative and take advantage of the global trends such as the carbon finance,” he said.

Mr Yamoah gave the advice at a capacity building workshop on Youth Participation in Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ programme (GCFRP) in Accra.

The workshop organised by SYND in partnership with the Forestry Commission of Ghana brought together young people to discuss the numerous opportunities in the climate space relating to carbon emission.

Employment in the green sector

He explained that there were a lot of opportunities in the green sector for young people hence SYND saw the need to organise a day capacity building workshop to enable them to gain interest in this space.

On unemployment, he said the youth could position themselves strategically to tap into the carbon market to earn a decent living.

He acknowledged the efforts of the Forestry Commission in ensuring that Ghana utilised its carbon generation hence funds for the farmers, especially cocoa farmers in the rural areas of the country.

“We know the population of the country is mostly made up of young people and if cocoa farmers are aging and going to phase out, it is time for young people to also step in if we want to keep our green sector thriving.”

We are now complaining about youth unemployment. If young people take the opportunity to gain interest in this space, they can direct their narrative, instead of always waiting for the government to give them employment,” he said.

REDD+

The Director for Climate Change at Ghana's Forestry Commission, Roselyn Fosuah Adjei, said the GCFRP aimed to reduce carbon emissions resulting from cocoa expansion into forest through the promotion of appropriate climate smart cocoa production approaches including intensification and yield enhancement.

She said the programme also sought to curb illegal timber harvesting and mining while incorporating shade trees in cocoa systems and to build climate resilience for the cocoa sector in order to secure rural livelihoods and sustain national development.

She explained that the REDD+ was important for Ghana because the country’s economy was highly dependent on the agriculture sector, which was climate-sensitive, and also relied heavily on ecosystem services such as pollinators, soil nutrient recycling, generation of rainfall and wind breaks.

“REDD+ provides an opportunity to mitigate climate change and make our agriculture and forestry sectors more resilient to its impacts, while establishing other sources of revenue  for the country.”

REDD+ is a game-changer: performance-based mechanism requiring tangible results that can attract carbon finance,” she said.

Therefore, she urged the youth to take advantage of the opportunities in this space.