Ghana has launched a new initiative in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Forestry Commission, and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), with funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). 

This collaboration marks Ghana’s entry into the third phase of the Green Commodities Programme (III), building on the progress made since 2010 towards sustainable agricultural production. This joint effort aims to drive meaningful change and promote environmentally friendly practices in Ghana's agricultural sector.

The initiative, titled Effective Collaborative Action for Sustainable Commodity Production and Trade, aims to foster Hotspot Intervention Area (HIA) Governance Board relations between the six HIAs and strengthen the stakeholder effectiveness and efficiency to combat deforestation and forest degradation, improve farm resilience, increase cocoa farmers’ revenues, and reduce poverty.

This project will form part of the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Programme (GCFRP)  Hotspot Intervention Area (HIA) structure, promoting dialogue and collaborative action among cocoa sector stakeholders through a multi-stakeholder platform. 

The Green Commodities Programme, a collaboration between SECO and UNDP, began in 2015 and originally focused on Peru (cocoa and coffee) and Indonesia (palm oil). This third phase also includes Brazil (soy and cattle), Ghana (cocoa), and Malaysia (palm oil). In Ghana, GCP III focuses on Ghana's cocoa production landscape, a vital sector for the country's economy and environmental sustainability.

Commenting alongside the national inception workshop, Ayirebi Frimpong, Forest Specialist at UNDP Ghana said: "We are excited to join this global initiative, working with UNDP, SECO and key players in the cocoa sector in the country to strengthen sub-national coordinating mechanisms, paving the way for a new vision of sustainable cocoa production in Ghana’’.