Increasing the knowledge and conservation of Atewa Forest in Ghana

Strengthening the knowledge and in situ conservation actions within Atewa Forest to protect its globally threatened tree species, critical ecosystems, and ecosystem service provision.

Partner: A Rocha Ghana
Years: 2023-2026

To address challenges about illegal activities in Atewa Forest, the project aims to increase knowledge about threatened tree species and improve their protection.

Atewa Forest is a rare Upland Evergreen forest harbouring a unique combination of ecosystems and species including many threatened and endemic ones. Despite its significance, illegal activities continue to damage the integrity of the forest. To help address these challenges, the project aims to increase knowledge about Atewa’s threatened tree species and improve their protection, as well as strengthen A Rocha Ghana advocacy demanding for the forest to be upgraded to a National Park and government to cancel its bauxite mining plans. Together these outcomes will protect both Atewa’s threatened tree species and the whole diversity of wildlife and rare ecosystems that the forest harbours. To achieve these outcomes, the project will build community and institutional capacity for identifying and collecting key information on threatened tree species in Atewa to improve knowledge of their status and distribution, strengthen monitoring and conservation, and secure an increase in their populations within the Atewa Forest. The project will support the local tree nursery to increase its propagation capacity and diversity to ensure the availability of seedlings of the threatened tree species targeted by the project for forest restoration and enrichment planting. The project will also publish a Trees of Atewa Guide and a manual to support research, advocacy and training.