Ghana through the efforts of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor has signed unto the LEAF Coalition at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, (COP26) on Wednesday, November 3, 2021.

The country, which has registered under ART-TREES, will by this signing generate ART credits to comply with the LEAF and also, more generally, participate in carbon markets.

In a statement at the signing ceremony, the Minister said the climate crisis is getting worse by the day and therefore asked that robust actions and concerted efforts be taken to reverse the negative trend.

Speaking at the gathering ceremony, Mr. Jinapor declared that the government of Ghana is ready to work with the Coalition to invest in reduced deforestation, aggressive afforestation, and sustainable rural development.

In view of Ghana’s dedication to seeing to the realization of the Climate Change agenda, the Minister also disclosed some initiatives the country has embarked on through the Akufo-Addo government to restore Ghana’s forest cover.

He said, “we, in Ghana, have begun an aggressive afforestation program aimed at restoring our lost forest cover, and are also embarking on efforts to reclaim our degraded lands”.

“We have declared 11th June each year as “Green Ghana Day”, where all citizens and foreigners living in Ghana are encouraged to plant at least one tree”.

He added that in the coming year, earnest preparations are being made for the country to plant at least 20,000,000 trees on “Green Ghana Day” and all this is to inculcate in Ghanaians the culture of tree planting as a means of restoring the lost forest cover, and to contribute to the reduction in emissions.

He noted the importance of the LEAF Coalition, saying that governments alone cannot raise the finances needed to reverse the climate crisis. He added that, this is why the LEAF Coalition is so crucial to our fight against climate change.

Mr. Jinapor reiterated the President’s commitment to meet the climate change target.

He said, “The commitment of President Akufo-Addo and his government to lead Ghana in contributing to the global efforts to come to grips with the existential crisis of climate change is total and unwavering”.

The Minister expressed his gratitude to Member States of the UN, especially to the US, UK, and Norway for coming together to launch such an “all-important initiative”.

A Lowering Emissions Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition is a voluntary global coalition bringing together companies and governments to provide finance for tropical and subtropical forest conservation commensurate with the scale of the climate change challenge.

As part of efforts to protect tropical and subtropical forests, a group of governments and leading companies, at the Leaders’ Summit on Climate in April 2021, launched the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition, as an ambitious new public-private initiative to accelerate climate action by providing results-based finance to countries committed to protecting their tropical forests.

LEAF Coalition aims to mobilize at least USD1,000,000,000 in financing, to support tropical and subtropical jurisdictions in making substantial reductions in their emissions from deforestation.