Under a new conservation agreement with the Jelinkon Community Resource Management Area, Koster Keunen West Africa, the largest producer of beeswax in West Africa has agreed to adopt sustainable beekeeping practice
Under a new conservation agreement with the Jelinkon Community Resource Management Area (CREMA), Koster Keunen West Africa (KKWA), the largest producer of beeswax in West Africa has agreed to adopt sustainable beekeeping practices. The signing ceremony was attended by multiple governmental and regional authorities.
KKWA will buy beeswax from the CREMA’s registered beekeepers at a premium rate, provide technical support and pay a conservation premium of GHS 1.5/kg of beeswax purchased from the area into the CREMA’s Conservation Fund Account. The CREMA authorities have likewise agreed preserve its ecosystems by restoring degraded areas, monitoring illegal activities, enforcing regulations and carrying out environmental awareness and education campaigns.
Covering 14,560 hectares in the western fringe of the Mole National Park, the Jelinkon CREMA is a protected area, in which ten communities manage under powers devolved by the Ghanaian government since 2008. It is mostly dominated by shea and dawadawa trees but has diversified other natural resources.
This is supported by the Ghanaian NGO Northcode-Ghana and the French NGO Noé, which lead the Econobio programme to support biodiversity conservation and value chain development through private sector collaboration in beekeeping and organic vegetable farming. It is the seventh such conservation agreements signed under the programme.
