Ownership and Attribution of Forest Carbon Rights - Ghana Briefing

About this briefing:

• No Ghanaian law currently states who owns forest carbon. The Environmental Protection Act, 2025 (Act 1124) regulates how carbon markets operate, but is silent on who holds the rights to the carbon stored in trees, soils and forests. 

• Ownership is therefore inferred from existing rules on land tenure, tree tenure, forestry regulation and customary law -  a patchwork that produces different answers depending on where a tree stands and who planted it. 

• Two competing classifications are on the table: treating forest carbon as an ecosystem service (benefits follow the people who own or steward the trees and land) or as a natural resource (control vests in the State, in trust for the people). 

• The choice matters enormously for farmers and communities, because it determines whether the people whose daily land-use decisions actually sustain forests receive direct benefits - or are left out of the value chain. 

• Community Resource Management Areas (CREMAs) and well-drafted contracts offer a practical bridge until Parliament settles the question. This briefing closes with concrete recommendations for reform.