Touton, through the Partnership for Productivity Protection and Resilience in Cocoa Landscapes (3PRCL) project, is leading a consortium of partners including Ghana Forestry Commission, Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), SNV, Agro Eco, the Nature Conservation Research Centre and communities - to develop and pilot a landscape-wide governance framework in the Juabeso-Bia landscape in the Western region of Ghana.
The expected outcome of the project is to catalyse investment from the private sector to preserve approximately 160,000 hectares of protected forest reserve and deliver socioeconomic benefits to an estimated 150,000 people by 2020.
The project seeks to establish a landscape governance structure and systems at regional, district and community levels with oversight of land use management, forest protection, and improved productivity and livelihoods.
The partnership adopts a jurisdictional approach which ensures that all stakeholders across the cocoa sector commit to and collaborate on achieving Climate Smart Cocoa which is tied to Ghana’s Emission Reduction Programme. Building on Touton’s Rural Service Centre model, the project aims to achieve measurable reductions in deforestation, enhanced resilience, significant increases in farmers’ yields and incomes and the marketing of climate-smart cocoa beans.