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Mainstreaming Biodiversity Conservation Into the Cocoa Production Landscape In COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND AWARENESS CREATION REPORT MAINSTREAMING BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION INTO THE COCOA PRODUCTION LANDSCAPE IN SOUTHWEST GHANA PREPARED BY Conservation Alliance No. 36 Odum Street North Dzorwulu, Accra APRIL 2013 Community Education and Awareness Creation Report Executive Summary Environmental services are the benefits that people, society and the economy receive from nature. For example: water provision and purification, flood and storm control, carbon storage and climate regulation, food and materials provision and tourism. Many environmental concerns today, including biodiversity loss, climate change and water availability can be attributed to agriculture. Some agricultural activities that lead to these damages include introduction of invasive species, erosion and deforestation, runoff of pesticides, fertilizers and animal wastes. These interactions must be considered to enable sustainable use of resources like water, soil, biodiversity and fossil fuels. CA with funds from BACP designed a project that will assist farmers to mainstream biodiversity conservation into the cocoa cultivation landscape. As part of the project, a community education and awareness creation campaign was mounted in the area: To create awareness about biodiversity conservation in communities in the Bia Conservation Area. To sensitize the public on the causes and effects of climate change, adaptation and mitigation measures. A series of approaches including community meetings/ durbars/ public meetings, media campaigns, presentations and open discussions were used to reach the communities. In general it was realized that communities possess good knowledge about the environment and processes that occur in it. This knowledge in our opinion can be complimentary to scientific knowledge. The knowledge that these communities possess allows them to detect and react to changes that occur in their environment. It was realized that local people living in rural areas cherish and promote ecosystem variability and diversity. Communities also recognized various benefits from their environments (ecosystems) which was categorized into four as follows- Regulating, Support, Provisioning and Cultural services. Participants were also able to identify various drivers of degradation and the need to restore degraded lands. During discussions at Osnokrom, Akuoko, Asafo Adjei, Amoakrom and Aboboyaa, community members admitted that the frequent raids of their farms by elephants was as a result of their closeness to the forest and that with time humans have moved into the habitat of the wildlife. Participants also admitted that certain strange grasses that were not seen in the area but in the Savanna areas have been noticed on old and abandoned farms and wastelands. Women involvement in such issues was raised as they are the most vulnerable with respect to the impact of Climate Change on livelihood. By the end of the education and awareness creation campaign, participants were well educated and informed about their environment and appreciative on the knowledge they acquired. 2 Mainstreaming Biodiversity Conservation into the Cocoa Growing Landscape in Southwest Ghana Community Education and Awareness Creation Report Executive Summary 2 Introduction 1.1 Cocoa Farming and Biodiversity Loss 4 1.2 Community Biodiversity Use 4 1.3 Objectives 5 Approaches 2.1 Media Campaigns 6 2.2 Community Meetings/ Durbars/ Public Meetings 7 2.3 Presentations 8 2.4 Open Discussions 8 Summary of Presentations 3.1 What is Biodiversity and Wildlife Conservation 10 3.2 Traditional African Practices for Biodiversity Conservation 12 3.3 Farmers as Ecosystem Managers 15 3.4 Ecological Importance of the Forest 17 3.5 Laws on Biodiversity Conservation in Ghana 19 Discussions/Findings 4.1 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services 22 4.2 Causes of Degradation and the Need to Restore Degraded Lands 23 4.3 Climate Change 23 Conclusions/ Recommendation 5.1 Conclusions 25 5.2 Recommendations 25 ANNEXES Annex 1 Schedule of Activities 26 Annex 2 Materials Used 27 FIGURES Figure 1 Loud Speakers Mounted within the Communities 6 Figure 2 Set of Public Address System connected to Loudspeakers 7 Figure 3 Chief and Elders Arrive at a Durbar at Debiso 7 Figure 4 Presentations by Officials from COCOBOD, CA and RA 8 Figure 5 During an Open Discussion 8 Figure 6 Ecosystem Services identified by Communities During Discussions 22 3 Mainstreaming Biodiversity Conservation into the Cocoa Growing Landscape in Southwest Ghana Community Education and Awareness Creation Report INTRODUCTION Historically, agricultural development was geared towards increasing productivity and exploiting natural resources, but ignored complex interactions between agricultural activities, local ecosystems, and society. Many environmental concerns today, including biodiversity loss, climate change and water availability can be attributed to agriculture. Some agricultural activities that lead to these damages include introduction of invasive species, erosion and deforestation, runoff of pesticides, fertilizers and animal wastes. These interactions must be considered to enable sustainable use of resources like water, soil, biodiversity and fossil fuels. 1.1 Cocoa Farming and Biodiversity Loss Cocoa farming, presents majority of farmers in Ghana, also contributes to rainforest and old growth forest deforestation. By clearing land into these forests, farmers decrease the biodiversity and interactions between the organisms that naturally live in this area. Many wildlife habitats are destroyed and the plant species diversity is drastically reduced. Nutrients begin to leach out of the soil due to poor irrigation and inadequate soil protection, which can increase the erosion of the soil. The more intense the farming practices are, the more damaging they are to the ecosystem. Cocoa farming becomes a destructive circle as farmers wear out the soils and cut further into the forest to obtain fresh land. All of these processes stress the Cacao trees and result in lower yields, giving the opposite effect to what the farmers expect from these practices. Some of the forests in Ghana and other cocoa producing countries have been declared protected by the government after observing the Tropical Rainforest destruction. However, with a shortage of fresh land to plant cocoa trees, some farmers are beginning to illegally cut down parts of these protected forests. It has been estimated that approximately 50% of these protected forests have been cut down. 1.2 Community Biodiversity Use Biodiversity is an important resource for Ghanaians. Uses are consumptive (food, fiber, fuel, shelter, medicine, wildlife trade) and non-consumptive (ecosystem services and the economically important tourism industry). Given the heavy dependence on natural resources in Ghana, many communities are vulnerable to the biodiversity loss that could result from climate change and unsustainable agricultural practices. The impact of climate change on humans will also be compounded by climate change induce alterations of agriculture, water supply and disease. 4 Mainstreaming Biodiversity Conservation into the Cocoa Growing Landscape in Southwest Ghana Community Education and Awareness Creation Report Much of the agricultural knowledge, science and technology needed to resolve today’s challenges are available and well understood, but putting them into practice requires creative efforts from all stakeholders. Existing agricultural science and technology can tackle some of the underlying causes of declining productivity. But further developments based on a multidisciplinary approach are needed, starting with more monitoring of how natural resources are used and increasing the understanding of local communities on the need to maximize productivity using improved methods whilst conserving biodiversity. Other options for action include more research into how to use natural resources responsibly. Through groups and programs cocoa farming can return to its sustainable roots through education programs and help in finding ecologically and economically sound resources to further their farming. Promotion of proper soil management and fertility, composting, suitable soil management, and intercropping, meaning planting other trees and fruit crops in the surrounding land of the cocoa trees could be another turn to avert some of these effects of biodiversity loss. Some farmers will burn old, fermented pods and place them back on the soil as a form of composting and fertilizer. 1.3 Objectives of the Project To create awareness about biodiversity conservation in communities in the Bia Conservation Area. To sensitize the public on the causes and effects of climate change, adaptation and mitigation measures. 5 Mainstreaming Biodiversity Conservation into the Cocoa Growing Landscape in Southwest Ghana Community Education and Awareness Creation Report APPROACHES The education and awareness creation team used different approaches to educate and create awareness among community members on climate change issues and the benefits of conserving biological resources for sustainable use. These approaches were carefully selected to ensure that it is effective for a particular target audience. Among the participants were women groups, youth groups, environmental NGOs and CBOs, Assemblymen, Municipal Assembly members, Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Social Welfare, Traditional Rulers, Fire Service among others. The number participants and/or the estimated audience per campaign has been annexed to the report.
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