PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATIONAL REDD+ ROAD SHOW STARTS IN DAMONGO ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2014
The National REDD+ Road Show event, which was launched on Friday, September 19th, 2014, during a media interaction at the Forestry Commission in Accra, starts at Damongo in the West Gonja District of the Northern Region from Wednesday, 1st to Thursday, 2nd October.
It is the first ever Road Show event of the forestry sector intended to create awareness among Ghanaians about REDD+ and its potential to help Ghana to mitigate climate change as well as enable the country adapt to its impacts. The theme for the Road Show is “Reducing Forest Loss and Climate Change Impacts throughREDD+; Our Collective Responsibility.”
REDD+ is an acronym for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. The Plus sign (+) represents activities that offer co-benefits such as biodiversity conservation, sustainable forest management and carbon stocks enhancement.
From Damongo, the Road Show moves to Dormaa Ahenkro in the Brong Ahafo Region from Wednesday, 8th to Friday, 10th October, 2014. The next venue is Tarkwa in the Western Region from Wednesday, 15th to Friday, 17th October, 2014. From Tarkwa, the next event will be at Hohoe in the Volta Region from Wednesday, 22nd to Friday, 24th October, 2014. The REDD+ Road Show event will be climaxed with a National REDD+ Forum in Accra on Friday, 7th November, 2014, at the National Theatre in Accra.
The National REDD+ Road Show event is a country-wide mass communication campaign involving branding of vehicles, endorsement messages, radio discussions, float, road procession, sensitization of pupils and students, interactions with traditional authorities and local community members, film shows and durbars. The National REDD+ Secretariat of the Forestry Commission is spearheading the campaign.
The purpose is to "sell REDD+" to the Ghanaian populace, drawing attention to unsustainable land-use practices leading to deforestation and forest degradation, and their negative impacts including global warming and loss of livelihood opportunities. The event is further intended to galvanize public support for actions and measures targeted at addressing the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Ghana.
Globally, REDD+ has been recognized as an activity whose successful implementation will help reduce the impacts of climate change particularly in developing countries like Ghana. The preparation towards implementing REDD+ in Ghana, has been on-going since 2007.
Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), developed countries have committed to provide financial incentives to developing countries that have large tracts of forests to help them to expand, nurture and protect their forests. This will ensure that forests continue to play their natural roles which include absorption of excess carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere in order to prevent the dangerous warming of the earth. The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have established that the continuous releasing or emission of a number of identified gases including carbon dioxide and methane (through mostly human activities) into the atmosphere has resulted in global warming leading to climate change.
The National REDD+ Roadshow Planning Committee, the Forestry Commission and partner institutions urge the general public, particularly residents of the various towns to participate in the various activities for the REDD+ Road Show. They should come on board, join in the procession and support the battle to save our forests and reduce the impacts of climate change.
Issued by the National REDD+ Secretariat
Forestry Commission
Accra
30th September, 2014
For further information contact:
Email: info.hq@fcghana.org
Website: www.fcghana.org/nrs
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