ghana climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessment

to be developed that provide rigorous estimates of carbon are compatible with national-level accounting.Ghana is pursuing the sub-national carbon accounting approach as a first step to manage the national carbonaccounting and actions related to crediting.MONITORING, REPORTING, AND VALIDATIONOnce a carbon accounting system has been developed it must be implemented as an ongoing function ofsome agency. Discussions by the MRV Sub-Working Group on how best to develop an effective MRVsystem are ongoing. The Remote Sensing & Forest Inventory Unit of the Forestry Commission and theCentre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (CERSGIS) at the University of Ghana willbe key collaborators in the design of the MRV and carbon accounting system. The challenges to effectiveMRV come from lack of infrastructure and limited human resources capacity. Internet speed is relatively lowand bandwidth is narrow, constraining the ability to obtain data over the internet and to share data andinterpretive maps among agencies. Historical LANDSAT and some SPOT data are available for Ghana andcould form the basis for a regular forest cover change monitoring system. Because of the high cloud cover,however, additional radar data will be needed to provide full coverage of the country. A fire monitoing systemis needed. At the present time, the state of the forest, trends, and functions are inadequate and must berevised to meet REDD+ standards. A true national continuous forest inventory must be established if carbonstock changes are to be monitored adequately. The forest area must be stratified into forest types; this effortshould be extended to the savanna zone as well. A system of permanent measurement plots is needed thatcan be re-visited and re-measured regularly, to establish trends.Technical capacity and expertise must be developed in both the remote sensing and field efforts. Technicalexpertise in optical and radar remote sensing acquisition, processing, and interpretation is required. Technicalcapacity is also needed to assess and validate the remote sensing interpretations using ground measurements.Technical capacity and expertise is needed for the field measurements and estimation of carbon stocks,including the research necessary to scale-up from individual tree diameter and height measurements tovolumes, weight, and carbon contents. Research on all carbon pools, including soil carbon and deadwood, isneeded for each forest type.CARBON RIGHTS AND BENEFIT SHARINGThe complex system of land and tree tenure varies in the different regions of Ghana (see next section fordetails). Even where smallholders have gained rights to share in benefits from planted trees (e.g., the modifiedtaungya system) it is far from clear whether they have gained rights to share in carbon benefits. Without suchincentive for local people to share carbon benefits, it is doubtful that deforestation and degradation can beavoided. The effectiveness of REDD+ schemes are not assured until tree tenure and carbon rights issues areaddressed.LAND TENURE IN GHANAINTRODUCTIONLand tenure is generally understood as the mutually accepted terms and conditions under which land is held,used, and traded (Adams & Sibanda, 1999). Tenure can further be defined as the “social relations andinstitutions that govern access to and use of land and other natural resources” (Yaro & Zackaria, 2006, 25). Itis important to note that land tenure is not a static system; it is a system and process that is continuallyevolving, and is influenced by factors such as the state of the economy, changing demographics, culturalinteractions, political discourse, or a changing natural and physical environment. However, land tenure can, inturn, have an impact on these factors, which is why it should be considered in conversations concerningsocioeconomic development and environmental change (Akoto et al., 1996). In the case of Ghana, landtenure is especially important. As a country with an agrarian-based economy, access to land and land usearrangements play an important role in determining economic productivity. Ghana aims to become a middleincome country by the year 2020, and meeting this goal will involve making serious improvements toagricultural production (Akoto et al., 2006). The literature suggests that land tenure plays an important role inGHANA CLIMATE CHANGE VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION ASSESSMENT 45