About Us
Take a look at the place, the people and the Culture…
Nature Conservation Research Centre (NCRC) is a Ghanaian non-profit organisation implementing conservation initiatives in order to promote a greater awareness of and protection for the natural, historic and cultural diversity of Ghana and other African countries.
NCRC holds the core philosophy that conservation in Ghana is best pursued in settings where there are economic and cultural incentives to its implementation. In other words, conservation in Ghana should emerge from local cultural belief systems and must have tangible economic returns for the human beings living in the immediate area. Without the pillars of culture and economics, we believe that conservation will not succeed in Ghana. In line with this core philosophy, NCRC seeks to use positive cultural practices and income generation potential to advance our organizational mission.
Nature Conservation Research Centre– (NCRC) is a registered non-profit organization in Ghana (Reg. No: G 897) which is headquartered in Accra. NCRC is a leading conservation NGO with direct involvement in West Africa and East Africa/Horn of Africa. NCRC has been a strong advocate of local ownership in conservation processes. The Centre works with communities, traditional leadership, governments, civil society and private sector to develop conservation initiatives that are owned and managed by forest dependent communities.
The Centre has deep experience in conceiving and developing community-based institutional platforms for operating such projects. Since the early 1990s, NCRC’s team was a pioneer of the Community Resource Management Areas (CREMA) model with the Wechiau CREMA that is widely recognized as the most mature and successful CREMA in the Ghana. The Wechiau organic shea program has been particularly successful in delivering biodiversity and economic results for the communities and CREMA. NCRC’s learning has been replicated in several other CREMAs in the forest zone with wider NTFP strategies linked to climate smart cocoa.
NCRC was one of the earliest African NGOs to actively engage with REDD+, FCPF and UN-REDD dating to 2007. The Centre has been involved in REDD+ issues at the national policy level and site level, initiating or providing technical support to pilot projects in 8 African countries. In particular, NCRC has led the process in Ghana to highlight the opportunities that climate-smart agriculture represents for a more sustainable cocoa sector and coffee landscapes of the Ethiopian highlands.
NCRC has also facilitated the broadest pan-African REDD+ policy dialogue series to date. This initiative has brought together 7 countries from East and West Africa to exchange and learn through South-South exchange. The major areas of discussion and action include REDD registries, nesting and Jurisdictional approaches, and biomass mapping. NCRC has also collaborated with CCBA to develop new standards to assist African community and small-holder projects. As such, NCRC is one of the best positioned African NGOs to understand and represent the interests, concerns and issues of NGOs in this space across the continent.
Over the past number of years, the Centre has planned and implemented numerous REDD+ and climate smart agriculture training and capacity building events hosted by governments and other NGOs. Examples include REDD trainings for traditional leaders and national pilot proponents in Ghana, REDD trainings for community members and leaders in Nigeria, biomass sampling trainings in Liberia, Nigeria and Ethiopia, and presentations on climate smart agriculture opportunities for the private and international NGOs. NCRC has also supported extensive exchanges on REDD between Brazilian NGOs and African country NGOs.
NCRC’s work has demonstrated that traditional communities can lead highly successful conservation initiatives, as shown by community partnerships in Ghana including Wechiau, Boabeng-Fiema, Dorimon and other locations.
Chairperson
Tokali Naa
Board Member
Board Member
Naba Sigri Bewong II
Secretary