Beekeepers Restore Forests
Using Nature-Based Beekeeping to Restore Forests
The project aims to create thriving rural communities across the Afram Plains where women and men earn stable incomes by safeguarding and restoring biodiversity in forested landscapes and sustainably managing native honey bee populations. The project hopes to assist beekeepers in the Afram Plains in growing trees and preventing perennial and indiscriminate bushfires in the area in order to improve the nectar sources for honey bees.
This will eventually lead to sustainable livelihoods, less reliance on the charcoal trade, reversal of forest degradation, and regrowth of scarce tree species. As part of this project, BfDG is collaborating with the Ghana National Fire Services to train beekeepers on wildfire response and fire management across at least 20 communities in Afram Plains. Wildfire [bushfire] is a perennial phenomenon in the Afram Plains and has destroyed many properties [farms and forests] over the years.
Beekeepers are expected to plant and protect the diverse selection of indigenous trees with an economic value around their apiaries, on their farmlands, on land granted for this purpose by traditional authorities, in buffer zones between communities and forest/wildlife reserves, and on reserves—working closely with the Forestry Commission of Ghana. People are also expected to understand the negative impact of charcoal production on honey production and the advantages of beekeeping as a sustainable livelihood activity.
Speaking during the project’s launch, the District Manager of the Forestry Services Division of the Forestry Commission said Ghana has lost a substantial amount of the forested areas due to anthropogenic factors. He said Ghana used to have over 10 million hectares of land under forests, but the country currently has less than one million hectares of forested land.
This project is funded by the UK Government through the Darwin Initiative.