General Overview

The Ghana Land Restoration and Small-Scale Mining (GLRSSMP) Project is a joint World Bank and Government of Ghana project under an IDA credit facility. This project was earlier proposed as the Ghana ASM Formalisation Project (GASMFP) with the objective of formalising the ASM sector, promoting sustainable ASM practices, and building institutional capacity to manage ASM operations.

In order to build synergies for institutional collaboration and data sharing, and to show enhanced results, the World Bank merged the Landscape Restoration Project of the EPA (under MESTI) with the Ghana ASM Formalisation Project of the MLNR into the GLRSSMP.

Project Development Objective

The project development objective of the GLRSSMP is “To strengthen integrated natural resource management and increase benefits to communities in the targeted degraded savannah and cocoa landscapes”. The project will focus on the following core interventions:

1. Restoration of degraded lands for agricultural productivity.
2. Strengthening sustainable management of forest landscapes for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services.
3. Formalization of illegal ASM for sustainable mining.
4. Land use planning for integrated landscape management to optimize land use to land characteristics.

Project Components of GLRSSMP

The Project has five components as part of its implementation arrangement. These are:

1. Component 1: Institutional Strengthening of Governance and Partnerships for Participatory Landscape Management
2. Component 2: Enhanced Governance in Support of Sustainable ASM
3. Component 3: Sustainable Crop and Forest Landscape Management
4. Component 4: Project Monitoring and Knowledge Management
5. Component 5: Contingency Emergency Response

Project Location

The proposed Project will be implemented in the Northern Savannah Zone and the Forest Transition Zone (in the central-south areas of the country). It focuses on scaling up interventions within forest landscapes based on lessons from the SLWMP and ongoing work in the FIP cocoa landscapes. Activities will be undertaken in converging landscapes.

In the Northern Savannah Region, activities will focus on the Kulpawn-Sisilli and Red Volta sub-watersheds — areas of SLWM needs, poverty, biodiversity corridors, and newly established CREMAs. About 100 communities (80 for SLWM, 28 for CREMA) across eight districts will benefit.

In the South-Central Region, the focus is on the Pra River Basin, covering parts of Ashanti, Eastern, Central, and Western Regions. This Upper Guinean rainforest area is rich in biodiversity and cocoa farming and has active ASM operations.

Project map for GLPSSMP

A map of Ghana showing the project districts under the Ghana Land Restoration and Small-Scale Mining Project (GLRSSMP)

Environmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP)

GLRSSMP-P171933-ESCP-Negotiated.pdf

Reports

• GLRSSMP-P171933-ESCP-Negotiated.pdf
• GH-LRSSMP-RPF-and-PF-May-2021.pdf
• GH-LRSSM-Project-P171933-ESMF-May-2021.pdf
• Ghana-LRSSMP-SEP-May-2021.pdf
• GH-LRSSM-Project-P171933-Final-ESMF-February2021-social-management-frame-work.pdf