Ben Williamson

The Wassa Amenfi Landscape is an 360,000-ha area in the Western Region of Ghana. The area is a complex ecosystem with numerous agricultural and economic activities embedded within the landscape. Most significantly is the production of cocoa. The Forests Dialogue in partnership with International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) launched a program to improve forest governance, build trust around contentious issues with diverse stakeholders and use collaboration as the driver for long term progress through tangible actions. This multi-stakeholder platform known as the Land Use Dialogue will occur in 2019 within the landscape. The project will utilize a ‘landscape approach’ to include all the impacted sectors beyond normal management boundaries. The desired outcome is a Landscape Management Strategy that will guide environmental management in the near future. This research uses information gathered from May to July 2019 to explain the challenges, priorities, and visions from the perspective of each stakeholder. The objective is to provide a collective understanding of the key issues for local, national, and international partners.