climate resilience

Fostering Resilience To Climate Change Within The Western Wildlife Corridor Of Northern Ghana

Iskra Talevska 00:00 · 27 Oct 22 00:00

In an increasingly industrialized world, the loss and fragmentation of habitats pose significant threats to our wildlife. An example of this degradation is the Western Wildlife Corridor in northern Ghana, a repository for biodiversity, suitable habitats, foraging grounds, and migratory routes for important terrestrial megafauna such as elephants.

How does this happen? Because of human activity and global warming, animal populations have been divided into smaller subpopulations which jeopardizes their survival. Overpopulation and overconsumption have led to the depletion of forests and wildlife. A lack of effective enforcement of institutional and policy frameworks for implementing ecological and socio economically sustainable management systems for wildlife resources is constantly noticed.

The Western Wildlife Corridor (WWC) in Northern Ghana is a vast ecological landscape spanning 3,713 km2. It is characterized by savanna ecosystems, bush and woodland savannas, and gallery forests. As an assemblage of protected areas, poorly managed forest reserves, farmlands, open woodlands, and shea parkland, it contains a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna relevant for local livelihoods. It serves for agroforestry, small-scale cash crop plantations like mango and cashew and swidden agriculture. However, its main focus though is preservation of biological diversity, reduction of rural poverty, and support of the local economy. The Western Wildlife Corridor is formed by three Community Resource Management Areas (CREMAs), non-reserved land masses inhabited by local communities and containing important components of highly accessible biodiversity. Each of three official CREMAs is made up of a number of communities that rely on the landscape’s resources for a living and contribute to the management of those resources through local governance bodies.

Northern Ghana is characterized by a difficult socioeconomic and climatic context, as well as a high poverty rate. As a result, the local population is heavily reliant on natural resources. Natural ecosystems are under severe stress, resulting in landscape degradation and fragmentation. Furthermore, the WWC is constrained by the governance of the CREMAs that comprise it. While these constraints limit the implementation of integrated landscape approaches, Conservation Partners Ghana, an inspiring local organization, has developed a project with the potential to improve the governance of this landscape and reach a sustainable and inclusive economic development that responds to climate change and biodiversity.

To achieve a more sustainable and integrated management and conservation of natural resources along the western wildlife corridor, Conservation Partners Ghana’s involves rural communities and engages in more inclusive, participatory, and interest-based negotiating with stakeholders.

Projects like this, with enormous potential of recovery, and significant impact for people, animal and plant species exactly match our vision. We are proud partners of Conservation Partners Ghana.

Nature+ diverts funds directly proceeding from our investors. In the case of this project, funds are used to involve and train local communities in sustainable land management, biodiversity monitoring, resource inventories and wildfire management. Additionally, we support 500 women through training and equipment to develop the value chain for shea, including building warehouses for women shea cooperatives, and supporting farmers with agroforestry by establishing forest restoration through assisted regeneration, or landscape restoration through natural regeneration.

So, how is investment value generated? Ecosystems like the Western Wildlife Corridor are natural assets, with a specific value. The right intervention, basically enhances the natural and human cycles, and creates an impact in a number of indicators (67 in total) that together increase the value of that natural asset.

What makes this opportunity unique is that Nature+ is a deep tech company, not an NGO. With a sophisticated data structure, and both digital and manual monitoring we gather all data generated for the impact we produce. Base-line data and monitoring allows us to create both a very solid Life Cycle Assessment on the different phases of the intervention, and very accurate impact goals as projections, that in turn translate in ROI projections, and yields for our investors.

Investing in natural assets is nothing new, traditional pension funds have been doing it for years. However, investing in an intervention project that enhances the value of the natural asset, and supporting it with a sophisticated data layer registered in a blockchain makes a world of a difference: Without intervention, data and impact goals, traditional “pension fund style” in natural assets is modest. However, by tapping into the factors that boost impact, we proudly offer a significantly more interesting investment option that does not necessarily increase risk.

This is an amazing start, the more funds we can divert into projects, the more hectares, species, youth groups, women groups and farmers we can support, not to forget research institutions and universities involved.

Project expected outcomes

500 individuals from 20 resource-dependent communities will fully participate in the governance of their resources while effectively adapting to climate change. This outcome will come as a result of training and equipping communities with the right skillset that will help them implement sustainable land management and wildfire management practices.
Restoration and integrated management of natural resources will improve ecological connectivity. This means to create pathways to scale-up landscape restoration across the Corridor in a more consultative manner: functional multi-stakeholder processes with long-term vision for a climate-smart shea industry in Ghana. Training and supporting farmers is key to integrate multi-purpose agroforestry trees to provide for fuelwood, nitrogen fixation, water retention and carbon storage.
550 local people will derive livelihood benefits as a result of improved non-timber-based commodity value chains. Shea pickers to help women collect three times more nuts per given time, building warehouses for storage, and establishing a community cooperative fund to support shea business start-ups.

This project deserves our attention and support because it looks at the bigger picture. It aims to improve livelihoods while engaging the community to fully participate in the governance of their resources, establishing ecological connectivity and fostering resilience to climate change.

This project is a model, and business case of a sustainable and inclusive economic development that enhances biodiversity, and we hope an example for many others to get inspired. That is where a nature positive happens, and that is where we want to be.

Get inspired yourself! Read more about the Western Wildlife Corridor Project.

A Guide To Building A Better Future: The Regenerative Approach

Iskra Talevska 00:00 · 28 Apr 22 00:00

For much of human history, the global community has caused unbridled environmental damage for the sake of economic growth. The continuous extraction of natural resources and intensive use of fossil fuels threatens the livelihood and wellbeing of people who depend on these resources and jeopardizes the overall health of ecosystems.

In the face of the climate crisis, rapid and effective solutions, as well as more sufficient economic models, are clearly required. So, the main question is: how can we work alongside nature to replenish and restore what the planet has lost? The answer is quite simple- by supporting activities that have a regenerative impact on the planet and reduce our planet’s prevailing pollution levels, environmental deficits, and emissions.

When we think about giving back to the natural environment by using less energy or producing less emissions and waste, we think of sustainability. However, after so many years of utilizing exploitative practices, is sustainability merely enough to transform destructive habits of thought and behavior into patterns that nourish all life? This is where the regenerative approach to the climate crisis comes into play.

The regenerative approach to the climate issue entails taking steps to effectively reverse the environmental damage, thereby fostering greater durability and ongoing conservation. It strives not only to reduce resource depletion, but also to raise productivity, improve soil fertility and health, increase biodiversity, restore lands, foster community, improve watersheds, and support local economies.

The regenerative strategy employs ecological practices that remove billions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere and return it to the soil, reversing today’s global patterns of atmospheric accumulation.

Its practices encourage a holistic way of thinking and acting, as well as across-the-board development of processes for transformative change in the field of sustainability. In addition, this approach also deeply and continually engages residents of local communities to understand a place’s dynamics and potential for the creation of a thriving living system.

Taking inspiration from this approach and ensuring that commerce and the community work together, Nature+ invests in solution providers that enrich the value chain for our planet and people, as well as in activities that strengthen the regenerative capacity of our planet.

We provide a blockchain-based financial infrastructure and marketplace that enables companies and private investors to invest directly in regenerative activities. This is a game- changer when it comes to regenerative development, as we enable businesses to go beyond zero emission. By using technology that will secure data and the gateway to investment, while also applying low energy consumption and a renewable source of energy, Nature+ creates a unique opportunity to channel funds to those who make a difference to the planet’s regenerative capacity.

According to Sinnet Bödewadt, Chief Visionary Officer at Nature+, the main aim is to create a movement that supports the idea of doing a little more than just prevention and reduction, but encourages solving issues by supporting innovation projects through technology to find the best creative solutions. Nature+ not only works on projects connected with circular economy, regenerative agriculture ecosystems, bio-diverse and resilient habitats, but also supports restorative clean up actions, resilient food systems, and climate smart technologies.

By actively supporting companies that work alongside the natural world, we can build not only a carbon neutral future, but one that has the potential to go beyond sustainability and become climate positive.

Relying less on finite energy sources can only have a positive influence on the planet. This is not to say that efforts to reduce negative impact should cease, but they should work in conjunction with ongoing innovation to bridge the gap between the sustainable and the regenerative approach.

In the quest for building a better future, there is work to be done on multiple fronts. As a society, we require infrastructures and economic models capable of replenishing and restoring what the world has lost. Moreover, as the discourse shifts, we can capitalize on the momentum to move beyond supporting the world in its damaged state and toward restoring it to its natural potential by integrating regenerative approaches.

Fostering Resilience To Climate Change Within The Western Wildlife Corridor Of Northern Ghana

To achieve a more sustainable and integrated management and conservation of natural resources along the western wildlife corridor, Conservation Partners Ghana’s involves rural communities and engages in more inclusive, participatory, and interest-based negotiating with stakeholders.

This is an amazing start, the more funds we can divert into projects, the more hectares, species, youth groups, women groups and farmers we can support, not to forget research institutions and universities involved.

Project expected outcomes

This project deserves our attention and support because it looks at the bigger picture. It aims to improve livelihoods while engaging the community to fully participate in the governance of their resources, establishing ecological connectivity and fostering resilience to climate change.

A Guide To Building A Better Future: The Regenerative Approach

The regenerative strategy employs ecological practices that remove billions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere and return it to the soil, reversing today’s global patterns of atmospheric accumulation.

Relying less on finite energy sources can only have a positive influence on the planet. This is not to say that efforts to reduce negative impact should cease, but they should work in conjunction with ongoing innovation to bridge the gap between the sustainable and the regenerative approach.

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Fostering Resilience To Climate Change Within The Western Wildlife Corridor Of Northern Ghana

To achieve a more sustainable and integrated management and conservation of natural resources along the western wildlife corridor, Conservation Partners Ghana’s involves rural communities and engages in more inclusive, participatory, and interest-based negotiating with stakeholders.

This is an amazing start, the more funds we can divert into projects, the more hectares, species, youth groups, women groups and farmers we can support, not to forget research institutions and universities involved.

Project expected outcomes

This project deserves our attention and support because it looks at the bigger picture. It aims to improve livelihoods while engaging the community to fully participate in the governance of their resources, establishing ecological connectivity and fostering resilience to climate change.

A Guide To Building A Better Future: The Regenerative Approach

The regenerative strategy employs ecological practices that remove billions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere and return it to the soil, reversing today’s global patterns of atmospheric accumulation.

Relying less on finite energy sources can only have a positive influence on the planet. This is not to say that efforts to reduce negative impact should cease, but they should work in conjunction with ongoing innovation to bridge the gap between the sustainable and the regenerative approach.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Join our mailing list

You're subscribed!

Thanks for subscription.

Message Sent

Thanks for contacting us. Our team is on the way to reply as soon as possible.

Thanks for contacting us.
Our team is on the way to reply as soon as possible.