As a social enterprise, Standard Blue Investments (SBI) was established to improve the lives of the people of West Africa with a particular focus on Ghana while improving, preserving and optimizing sustainable ecosystems and biodiversity.  In collaboration with local indigenous communities, traditional and local municipal leaders, the success of this project, Ghana Leads Blue (GLB), depends on the expertise and cooperative efforts of a consortium of individuals and organizations.

SBI has assembled a team of experts and advisors in mangrove science, wildlife, community education, infrastructure design and development, to reforest 5,000 hectares of mangroves over the next 5 years and conserve an additional 10,000 hectares of mangrove forest in three key biodiversity areas of east Ghana: Keta Lagoon Complex, Songor Lagoon and the Volta estuary islands.

Dr. David Obura, a scientist and biodiversity expert, recently stated that to address the crisis in global biodiversity loss we must first understand the “root causes and the entire scope of human-nature interactions.”¹  SBI takes a holistic approach to this nature-based project by engaging the indigenous communities to address biodiversity degradation as well as waste management and economic challenges in the three key areas of focus.

Leveraging the financial flows from the voluntary carbon markets (VCM), GLB will provide long-term sustainable programs and infrastructure to improve the livelihoods of beneficiary communities. Using a proven framework, the anticipated cash flows from VCM allow GLB to strike a balance between conservation goals and local needs and demands for resources to support livelihoods, food security, and improved human well-being, local economies, and ecosystems.

Guided by the 17 UN Sustainable Development goals and the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration Principles, the project plan accounts for –

• Attention to and acknowledgement of traditional knowledge bearers and stewards of natural capital.
• Diversity of thought and perspectives on valuation methodologies while employing best practices
• Benefit sharing of the proceeds to enable long-term sustainability of systems and infrastructure development, implementation, and monitoring.

Focusing on community engagement and development as a key component to sustainable change and improved conditions, GLB will:

1. Partner with local communities to educate about the importance of responsible anthropogenic activity for environmental sustainability.
2. Partner with indigenous communities and local wildlife managers to reforest their mangrove wetlands and establish an annual planting schedule based on the seasons.
3. Partner with the communities and local wildlife agents to establish mangrove, bamboo and coconut tree nurseries.
4. Engage with local residential, traditional, government, and business communities to develop sustainable infrastructure solutions that mitigate the current threats to local ecosystems.

Financial

GLB project development costs total $5.0 million (including interest) US dollars. This budget accounts for plantings, nursery development, equipment, labor, short-term economic support for wildlife agency capacity building, alternative economic opportunity creation for indigenous communities, development and third-party validation expenses associated with VCM registration and standards, and operating expenses for SBI.

SBI anticipates with approvals from a globally recognized registry in the VCM, investors will receive a full return of capital and interest of 25% compounded annually within six years: applying conservative assumptions of 15 tonnes carbon sequestration annually per hectare, 15,000 total hectares of reforestation and conservation at market price of $12.00 per tonnes and 75/25 annual split investor/(developer and project) of VCM proceeds until principal and interest is repaid.

Impact

• Up to 1.0 million indigenous community members positively impacted.
• Improved biodiversity with long-term sustainable economic support and monitoring systems.
• Improved status of IUCN threatened species
• Sustainable practices for fin and shellfish harvesting with increases in available stock.
• Reduction in erosion and flooding threats.
• Improvement in local primary/secondary education and vocational training programs.
• Reduction in child labor and trafficking.
• Improved carbon sequestration and storage in 10,000 hectares of mangrove forest.
• An additional +/- 3,000,000 tonnes of carbon sequestration and storage over 20 years.