2.1 SITUATION ANALYSIS
Biodiversity conservation is relevant to Ghana as a result of its diverse benefits; it provides people with opportunities for water, food, clean air, livelihoods, cultural values and tourism opportunities. The Bui National Park and its association socio-ecological production landscape provide avenues for biodiversity conservation in Ghana. The landscape is a unique area with amazing tourist attractions like hippopotamus viewing, rising and setting of the sun, lake surfing and traditional festivals of the Nafaana people.
The construction of the dam across the Black Volta River has created a reservoir at Bui which occupies about 23% of the Bui National Park. The dam created on the river has created suitable habitats for hippopotamus and other aquatic wildlife. The terrestrial habitats destroyed by flooding have created new niches for fishes suitable for spot fishing. This has created an alternative form of tourism potential in the Bui National Park. The construction of Bui Dam also has impact on infrastructure such as roads, clinic, community centre, cemeteries and sacred sites, ancestral villages, and houses of the affected communities. Currently, eight communities have been relocated due to the Bui Dam construction.
The Bui National Park is threatened by encroachment through resettlement, artisanal mining, logging and charcoal production. These activities have therefore challenged the sustenance of the protected area including its exotic species. This situation is even worsened by the already limited and deplorable conditions of such facilities. Although, some reliefs such as new accommodation facilities, access roads, and bore holes have been provided for the resettled people, many continue to live from hand to mouth. The situation is compounded by the number of people who have lost their farmlands to flooding as well as people whose fishing livelihoods have shifted from river to lake fishing. In many cases, some compensation were provided to the affected people to cushion the impact of the Bui Dam on their livelihoods (ERM, 2007). In many of such cases, the affected people have complained about the resettlement package as inadequate as compared to their livelihood situation before the dam construction.
Unfortunately, the involvement of the local communities in the management of the Bui National Park has been limited, making the local people feel alienated from the utilization of the natural resources. The management plan of the Park has not been revised since the dam was created. There is no baseline information on the ecotourism potential since the construction of the dam. The Bui Dam seems to have created a number of negative effects on nearby communities. Some efforts have been made to address these issues through the implementation of micro projects that will develop alternate livelihoods. This project seeks to get the local communities to become partners in the management of the natural resources in order to promote biodiversity conservation.
2.1.1 The Problem Statement
The main environmental challenges confronting the Bui socio-ecological production landscape are increasing habitat destruction due to uncontrolled logging for charcoal production, excessive hunting, incessant wildfires, illegal gold mining; unsustainable farming practices; inadequate livelihood support systems, and weak institutional capacity to support conservation and production.
The underlying causes for the increasing destruction of habitats are: a) the poor involvement of the local people in the management of natural resources including the Bui National Park; b) weak governance; c) lack of employment opportunities beyond subsistence agriculture in turn fuelling out-migration, particularly among the young, which destabilizes the communities.
The results of these environmental abuses have been the increasing loss of biodiversity and the destruction of mountain forest resources and vegetation cover, dryness of water sources, land degradation, and widespread poverty. Generally, the uses of natural resources within the landscape are unsustainable with increasing use of agrochemicals, reduction in soil fertility, rarity, and loss of flora and fauna.
2.1.2 Project Goal and Objectives
The main objective of this intervention is to promote effective ecosystems management through community landscape and waterscape management strategies to conserve biodiversity, whiles sustainably developing the ecosystem goods and services for livelihood development. The project will promote community-led replication and broader adoption of proven technologies and good practices in biodiversity conservation, agroecology and climate-smart agriculture among smallholder farmers in the Bui traditional area.
The specific objectives are to:
a) promote participatory management of the Bui National Park (BNP)
b) create a community resource management area to improve on the governance and management of the Bui socio-ecological production landscape
c) promote organic climate-smart innovative farmers? as smallholder investors in agroecology, and diversify agricultural production and marketing of organic products within the Bui socio-ecological production landscape.
2.2 PROJECT RATIONALE
The GEF/SGP in Ghana under OP7 intends to promote effective ecosystems management through community landscape and waterscape strategies to conserve biodiversity, sustainably develop the ecosystem goods and services whilst enhancing sustainable utilization biodiversity products for livelihood development. It also seeks to promote a number of successful climate-resilient agriculture and food systems, organic and agroecology projects within the buffer zones of critical ecosystems and degraded landscapes. Much of the work has been done in promoting organic commercial farming and with this, SGP has innovated by integrating the elements of in-situ conservation of genetic resources, climate-smart agriculture, agroecological innovative farming and land-based organic providers (i.e. bio-deposit) to reduce the use of chemical-based fertilizers while reducing emission from ozone-depleting substances such as nitrites and nitrates. This project will create major activities on socio-ecological production landscapes in danger from slash-and-burn cultivation with the dual purpose of preventing cover loss and erosion as well as forest fragmentation. These investments will contributed to UNDP SDC Outcome 5 and the GEF/SGP community landscape conservation, climate-smart innovative agroecology, and chemicals and waste management portfolios. The program has built new partnership mechanisms with funding for sustainable land management solutions at community and sub-national levels.
The project will contribute to GEF/SGP OP7 priorities and will promote climate-smart agroecology to conserve community landscapes, Community-based conservation of threatened ecosystems and species, sustainable agriculture and fisheries, food security, and enhancing social inclusion. The successful implementation of the project will invariably address land-hunger build ups, poverty reduction (SDG 1) and extreme hunger (SDG 2) among rural populations in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The project will upscale and promote broader adoption of proven agroecology and climate-smart agricultural technologies, systems and practices in Ghana as follows: a) investing in proven technologies for small-scale farmers that lead to improve food security and climate change adaptation for both organic/agroecology and conventional farmers; b) promoting innovations and tested technologies jointly developed by farmers and researchers; c) adopting technological innovations that will lead to more robust agricultural and food systems to rejuvenate rural economic integration and sustainable incomes.
2.3 EXPECTED OUTPUTS
? Participatory management plan for Bui National Park (BNP) revised and implemented with the enhanced governance system.
? Community resource management area created to promote transparent governance of BNP.
? Fifty (50) farmers supported to adopt innovative agroecology technologies within the Bui socio-ecological production landscape.
2.4 PLANNED ACTIVITIES
Output 1: Participatory management plan for Bui National Park revised and implemented with the enhanced governance system.
2.4.1. Support the Wildlife Division to revise and formulate a participatory management for Bui National Park. The development of the participatory management plan for BNP will followed these steps:
? Planning phase ? establish a working team and create awareness among the local communities within the landscape to get their support;
? Data collection ? conduct literature review and undertake questionnaire surveys, and biodiversity inventories;
? Evaluate of data, and undertake SWOT analysis (analyze of threats and opportunities);
? Develop a vision for the park, by identifying management themes, clear objectives and actions;
? Prepare the first draft of the management plan;
? Conduct participatory stakeholder workshops to disseminate and analyze the draft management plan;
? Prepare the final management plan;
? Seek approval of the management plan;
? Support the implementation of management activities;
? Put in place monitoring of implementation;
? Review and update of the management plan.
Output 2: Transparent governance of BNP and the Bui socio-ecological production landscape put in place.
2.4.2 Set up Protected Area Management Advisory Board (PAMAB) to help improve on the governance of BNP.
? Set up Protected Areas Management Units/Board with representation from all the identifiable interest groups to serve as focal points/platforms for stimulating and exchanging ideas on natural resources management in a Protected Area and on lands, owned and used by the surrounding communities.
? With support of PAMAB, set up community resource management committees (CRMC) at village levels
? Organize and train CRMC on their functions in the management of the park.
? Provide training and orientation to PAMAB on their duties and functions.
? Identify and integrate local peoples' concern into the management of the Protected Area in a cohesive and productive manner.
? Assist in integrating the development of the BNP into the District Development plan
? Create awareness to win local support for practical, effective and harmonious management of the BNP.
2.4.3 Define Bui socio-ecological production landscape (Community Resource Management Area ? CREMA)
? Organize a briefing meeting and training workshop for at least three to five-member volunteer group from each of the Park fringing communities or a cluster of neighbouring communities that form the CRMC.
? With the help of a base map help the CRMC to define the BUI socio-ecological production landscape
? Support stakeholders to formulate constitution to govern the socio-ecological production landscape
? Support stakeholders to formulate bye laws and action plans in their respective communities;
? GSG should visit each community and introduce the 3-5-member volunteer groups to their respective communities within landscape;
? Elect members of the CRMCs that form the governance foundation of the CREMA;
? Identify CRMC members with ID cards, certificate and dress.
? Organize two-day workshop to train the newly elected CRMC members and inaugurate at the district level;
? Conducts needs assessment of the landscape and plan resource rehabilitation activities to be implemented in the landscape.
? Support the implementation of actions
Output 3: 50 Pioneers Farmers Adopt Innovative Agroecology technologies within the Bui socio-ecological production landscape
2.4.4 The project will promote one proven innovations and smallholder investments models in agroecology and climate-smart agriculture practices to be replicated and shared among the farmers in the landscape. These innovative organic agroecological technologies include:
a) Integrated organic farming approaches that contribute to the minimization of the release of persistent organic pollutants (POP?s) whilst producing small ruminant and honey within a safe environment. This project will build the capacities of the farmers to phase out the application and use of persistent organic pollutants and chemicals in farming but improve on their irrigated land-use efficiency and productivity and through integrated organic farming approaches that contribute to the minimization of the release of persistent organic pollutants (POP?s) whilst producing poultry, fish, and rice within a safe environment. The project will help led farmers establish integrated rural cottage enterprise with strong commodity value chain linkages around vegetable farming, animal rearing and poultry and fish farming, depending on the choice of the farmer. The project will train the farmers to increase the productivity of land resources effectively by integrating irrigation, animal rearing, and poultry with vegetable and fruit tree/cashew cultivation grown together on the same plot adjacent to each other and the by-products of one are used as inputs by the other. The project model has an in-built enterprise system which allows the farmers to invest in integrated farming, through Farmer Field Schools (FFS) and training in Integrated Pest and Disease Management strategies. Farmer will learn and practice plant nutrition, plant health and plant maintenance.

Figure 3: Integrated Agroecological Practices
b) Community waste management, climate-smart sustainable agriculture, and livelihood development. This involves developing the capacities of the farmers in community waste management to prevent waste burning by learning how to collect waste from homes, segregating the waste into degradable and non-degradable; recycling the degradable waste into organic compost, using the compost to produce organic vegetable and establishment of agroforestry farms; focusing on preparation and use of POPs alternatives natural pesticides to control pests and establishing apiaries to assist pollination and produce honey. The main project business involves building the capacities of Youth as enviro-entrepreneurs to invest in compost preparation using the aerobic process to produce organic compost. The business involves collecting waste from the house to house and sorting them out; preparation and packaging of liquid fertilizer (folio) and granules (pellets) and pesticides using organic materials. Famers will invest in a tree nursery, beekeeping, dry season vegetable, and agroforestry using the compost produced from the project. The agriculture inputs are supplied to the farmers on the credit system and the profits are reinvested in the business. Farmers? training schools have been set up to train farmers on farms.
This model also introduces investment increases the capacity for self-regulation of pests and to increase the capacities of farming, specifically by diversification of the use of biological control agents, integration of soil management using rotation systems, soil laboratories, design and management of the cultivation with polyculture or mixed cultures, cultivation of natural enemy pest regulation and increasing biodiversity by enhancing the complexity of the production systems matrix. The pest management techniques increase the diversity and regulatory activity of natural enemies by 25-35%.
The farmers would be trained to reduce the costs of pesticides and pests in agrarian production. The project addresses the gaps in rural development, by focusing on conservation, organic production, social entrepreneurship, and marketing hubs. Agro-Eco farmers entail key features including but not limited to: seeds and plant genetic conservation, farmer-led and participatory plant breeding, community-based seed banks and learning farms, training of young farmers in organic product processing.