Embedding Governance and Accountability in Sustainable Forest Management: The Case of REDD+ Implementation in Ghana

From Executive Summary:The introduction of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) project in 2007 by the United Nations Conference of the Parties in Bali, Indonesia, as part of the Paris Agreement, was aimed at addressing deforestation, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change by incentivising countries to conserve forests. Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), developing countries can receive results-based payments for reducing emissions through REDD+ activities.Over the years, a number of countries have been engaged in this results-based project, with Ghana becoming the second African country, following Mozambique and the first in West Africa, to receive payments from the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). The FCPF disbursed $4,862,280 to Ghana, acknowledging the reduction of 972,456 tons of carbon emissions during the initial monitoring period. In light of project’s success in Ghana, this report, therefore, focuses on exploring and understanding the governance and accountability mechanisms that have made the REDD+ implementation in Ghana successful. The report employs a qualitative research design, utilising semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in the REDD+ space, focus group discussions with four beneficiary Hotspot Intervention Areas (HIAs), and insights from strategic documents on REDD+ from January 2024 to March 2025. These pieces of data are analysed using thematic analysis.