Natural Resources and Environmental Governance Programme (NREG)
NREG is designed to provide annual Sector Budget Support and to sustain the implementation of broad programme of Natural Resources Governance and Environmenta reforms and innovation for the government.
The programme has been developed and fully owned by relevant government agencies:- MLNR, MEST, FC, MC and EPA. The programme focuses on a set of policies and reforms in the inter-related sectors of forestry and wildlife, mining and environmental protection. It is a five-year programme beginning from September, 2008.
The objective of the NREG programme is to address governance issues as regards to natural resources and environmnent with the overall objective of ensureing sustainable economic growth, poverty reduction, increasing revenues and improving environmental protection.
The NREG draws on the Framework Memorandum of Understanding that has been developed under the leadership of Government of Ghana (GoG) with five participating Development Partners (DPs) including: Agence Francois de Development (AFD), Department for International Development (DfID) of the United Kingdom, the European Commission (EC), the Royal Netherland Government (RNG) and the International Development Association (IDA – WB).
The direct benefits expected at the completion of the programme at the end of five years would include:-
| Improved management of government revenues and finances in forestry and mining sectors |
| Reduce illegal logging |
| Reduce social conflict in forestry and mining communities |
| Integration of environmental considerations into policy formulation and implementation across government, including risks associated with climate change |
The third year of NREG programme implementation (2010) begins, the DPs have provided the following indicative funding which may be subject to changes:-
| DP | Amount 2008 | Amount 2009 | Indicative Amount 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|
| RNG | €7.0m | €7.0m | €7.0m |
| WB | $20.0m | 10.0m | 10.0m |
| AFD | €1.0m | €1.0m | €1.0m |
| EC | – | – | €4.0m |
| DfID | – | £2.0m | £2.0m |
Twenty-five Million Ghana Cedis (GHC 25,000,000) has been approved for FC by MOFEP for 2010.
One of the main agenda in the programme is the implementation of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) between GoG and EC. The first mission of the Joint Monitoring and Review Mechanism (JMRM)was successfully conducted in Accra between January 27 – 29, 2010. Details would be provided by the Timber Validation Department (TVD).
Also, two Performance Assessment Framework have been successfully completed with DPs. All triggers and targets were achieved except the conversion of extant timber leases to TUCs and the charging of Timber Right Fees (TRF).