Atebubu and Wiase Forest
Landscape Restoration

MEET THE PROJECT  

Project Overview

Title: Atebubu and Wiase Forest Landscape Restoration project

Aim: “A ‘Living Lab’ for Community and Ecological Resilience”

Duration: 2021 – 2025

Location: Atebubu and Wiase districts in Bono region, Central Ghana

Value: €7.5m

Implementors: Atebubu, Wiase and Dwan communities, NGPTA, Nature and Development Foundation (NDF) and APSD

Supporters: Funded by AstraZeneca and coordinated by Circular Bioeconomy Alliance (CBA). 

Project Profile

Atebubu and Wiase Forest Landscape Restoration project: 
“A ‘Living Lab’ for Community and Ecological Resilience”
is a ten-year community-led project located in the Bono East region of Central Ghana.

The project is part of a global network of Living Labs for Nature, People and Planet established by the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance (CBA). The CBA was established in 2020 by His Majesty King Charles III (formerly His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales), and aims to accelerate the transition to a circular bioeconomy that is climate neutral, inclusive and prospers in harmony with nature. The Atebubu and Wiase project is the first Living Lab to be established and is funded by AstraZeneca.

“This Living Lab project is part of AstraZeneca’s AZ Forest initiative to plant and maintain 50 million trees globally by the end of 2025, in partnership with local governments and non-profit organizations. AZ Forest aims to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change and contribute positively to communities, local economies, nature and the planet by building ecological and community resilience.”
AstraZeneca
​Barbara Nel AstraZeneca’s former Country President for the African Cluster planting a tree to mark her visit to the project site in July 2022

Barbara Nel AstraZeneca’s former Country President for the African Cluster planted a tree to mark her field visit to the project site in 2022.

The Aim

We co-designed this Living Lab with local communities, traditional leaders, government officials and other diverse stakeholders to respond to local needs and challenges. This Living Lab project seeks to address issues of land degradation, declining soil fertility, low agriculture productivity, deforestation, nature loss, unemployment and climate change. Our primary goal is to build community and ecological resilience through forest landscape restoration: 

  • Natural Forest restoration: 4,500 hectares of forest restoration in degraded areas
  • Agroforestry: 3,780 ​hectares of agroforestry and regenerative agriculture to ​reduce pressure on natural forests, improve land productivity and boost incomes for smallholder farmers.

There will be a total of 6 million trees planted by the end of 2025:

  • Natural forest restoration and regeneration: 5 million trees
  • Agroforestry: 1 million trees

The Objectives

This Living Lab is guided by the following objectives: 

To foster ecological and landscape resilience through forest landscape restoration  over 10 years:

  • Plant and steward 6 million trees.
  • Restore 8,280 hectares of degraded forest areas, which will:
  • Enhance biodiversity, landscape and ecosystem resilience to climate change and other natural disturbances
  • Improve soil carbon, water, quality and health
  • Purify water sources and replenish watersheds
  • Prevent erosion and floods
  • Improve local air quality and climate
  • Provide shade for shade crops, people and animals
  • Sequester carbon in the soil and above ground.

To foster community resilience, build adaptive capacity and ensure long-term sustainability  of  forest landscape restoration through:

  • Providing technical and peer-to-peer learning, training and capacity building on agroforestry, regenerative agriculture and climate change.
  • Creating circular business models relying on biological resources (biomaterials and bioenergy) and nature-based systems.
  • Developing forest systems that are economically sustainable and equitable.
  • Creating green jobs and sustainable livelihood opportunities for local communities
  • Facilitating social inclusion and the participation of women and young people in decision-making and agroforestry.


This Living Lab also contributes to several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially the following: 

Duration

Active implementation is taking place over five years (2021-2025) and monitoring will continue for up to 10 years.

Progress and Achievements

Year 1: 2021

Over 240 households
interviewed for baseline analysis 

The results from baseline analysis helped us to fine-tune and refine the Living Lab

173 hectares planted with
150,000 pioneer trees

Natural forest restoration: pioneer species such as Ceiba, Senya and Dawa dawa were planted. This pilot planting helped us improve both our nursery management and our silvicultural techniques.

Year 2: 2022

Locally led agroforestry and regenerative agriculture

450 farmers
implementing agroforestry

≈820 hectares of smallholder agroforestry

The 450 partner farming households in 13 communities participated in group training or one-on-one technical support on agroforestry and were supported to plant a total 222,000 mangoes and cashew tree seedlings

fast growing tree planted in 2022

We are supporting various community announcements and radio talk shows on agroforestry, climate action and post-planting fire management involving farmers and local leaders.​ 
For example, 697 community members were trained in fire management/prevention.

“Through the project, I have learnt that the goal in farming is not just growing food crops or cashews, but the cultivation and protection for multiple benefits. I would like to encourage fellow women to join.”
Ms Kumbia farmer of Bantema village during a radio talk show on agroforestry management

Natural forest restoration

More than 3.6 million  pioneer and native trees planted to restore 2,100 hectares of degraded land.

In natural forest restoration, the project is taking strides to not only contribute to re-greening the landscape, but also maintaining and restoring ecosystem integrity. In 2023, e-DNA samples were taken from water sources in the restoration areas to track biodiversity impact.

Since project inception, a Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSP) was formed, including farmers, chiefs, officials, and others. The MSP is poised to oversee the project implementation, facilitate dialogue and problem-solving . It's facilitated by ​the Nature and Development Foundation (NDF)

So far, 8 meetings have occurred, involving 380+ participants. Learn more about the MSP and project governance [here]

“At the start of the project, there was limited participation of women and youth in agroforestry. We implemented numerous tactics: scheduling training during less busy hours for women, encouraging women to take up leadership and choosing venues favourable for them to reach.”- Rose Kobusinge, Communications Officer.

Projections for 2023

The map below shows the location of the communities engaged in agroforestry and regenerative agriculture
for the year 2021-2022.

Partnerships

We prioritize and value partnerships as a key ingredient for effective forest landscape restoration and climate adaptation initiatives. Our successes and lessons so far are mainly due to our unique approach to developing strong relationships and ownership at the community level. The Atebubu and Wiase farmers are the main stakeholders in this Living Lab. 

CBA and NGPTA visit to FORIG tree nursery beds

CBA and NGPTA visit to FORIG tree nursery beds

Project Partners: 

We also work with other collaborators:
- Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA)
- CSIR ‐ Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG)
- CSIR - Crops Research Institute (CRI)
-The Ghana National Fire Service
“It’s all about collaboration and moving together with stakeholders especially farmers. This makes it easy to coordinate operations, bridge gaps, open dialogue, identify opportunities and inform practice.” 
Abraham Yelley, Community Liaison Officer 

     THIS LIVING LAB PROJEC​T IS FUNDED BY:

Astra Zeneca Ethics helpline
If you have any serious concerns about the governance of the project, you can use this site to find a relevant helpline

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