Biodiversity – forest and farm producers are critical agents for a healthy planet.

Today is 2020 International Day of the Forest and for that matter, the Ghana Federation of Forest and Farm Producers (GhaFFaP) acknowledges the central role of the forest in ensuring sustainable biodiversity for all forms of live on the planet. GhaFFaP acknowledges the very great threats on biodiversity due to deforestation, forest degradation, climate change and most importantly the human factor that creates the biggest threat to biodiversity.

The threat to biodiversity has also very serious consequences for primary resource dependent households, local communities, vulnerable groups and more importantly women.

GhaFFaP aims to support the global drive to reverse the threat to biodiversity by embarking on interventions that promote climate resilient landscapes and forest landscape restoration using the potency of its strength in numbers. Livelihoods of GhaFFaP members, that are mainly smallholder farm families, is rooted in sustainable landuse practices, building climate resilience landscapes and engaging in forest landscape restoration towards improving biodiversity.

Biodiversity offers smallholder farm families’ sustainable and diversified livelihoods. Thus the threat to biodiversity is a threat to the existence of resource dependent communities.

GhaFFaP aims to use it strength in numbers to partner the government of Ghana and other stakeholders to undertake forest landscape restoration including the integration of trees on their lands, use of farmer managed natural regeneration approaches and agro-ecology farming best practices to improve forest cover and biodiversity.

GhaFFaP will like to use this occasion of the International Day of the Forest 2020 to call on all of its members, communities and everyone to stay safe from the corona virus by practicing good hygiene especially regular handwashing, use of hand sanitizers, Keep distance from people with cough and sneezing, avoiding gatherings and comply with the government directives and measures towards overcoming the virus. GhaFFaP says together we shall overcome the corona virus and together we shall reverse the corona virus spread and effect.