Carbon, biodiversity and cocoa farming in Ghana

1. Carbon, biodiversity and cocoa farming in Ghana Professor Ken Norris Amy Wade The University of Reading Centre for Agri-Environmental Research

2. Talk Outline • Recent work • Carbon and biodiversity in forest and agro-forestry ecosystems • Land management strategies for cocoa and carbon • The large-scale Carbon value of cocoa farming systems • Cocoa-carbon possibilities

3. Cocoa-biodiversity project Forest Reserve (Atewa) Traditional, shade cocoa Intensive, unshaded cocoa

4. Project details • Eastern Region • Integrated data collection • farm productivity and management • biodiversity • soil nutrient status (health) • carbon stores

5. Biodiversity value Low High Production intensity

6. Cocoa-carbon • Carbon stores in relation to land-use • Land management strategies • The potential large-scale value of cocoa-carbon in Ghana

7. Carbon stores and land-use

8. Productivity Foresttrees Soil

9. Land management strategies Shaded cocoa 1ha 160Mg C Forest 0.42ha Unshaded cocoa 0.58ha 136MgC

11. Large-scale cocoa-carbon issues • Carbon stores in forest and cocoa farming systems in Ghana are roughly equivalent • Intensifying cocoa production would reduce the carbon stores in cocoa farming systems by about 50%

12. Cocoa-carbon possibilities • Afforestation/Reforestation • Restoring shaded cocoa farming systems to former or abandoned cocoa growing areas • Increasing tree cover in intensive cocoa growing areas

13. Cocoa-carbon possibilities • REDD • Avoided deforestation caused by conversion to cocoa farming • Avoided forest degradation caused by the intensification of cocoa farming

14. Concluding Remarks • Cocoa and carbon in Ghana are inextricably linked • Cocoa farming systems are an important carbon store • Changes in cocoa farming systems could significantly increase or reduce GHG emissions • Significant opportunity to develop cocoa-carbon projects in Ghana