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The rights over tree tenure often determines who benefits from REDD+ activities in Ghana suggests Willem den Besten from IUCN. Due to the strong influence of formal and customary systems of land and tree ownership in Ghana, it can be very hard for farmers to obtain certificates of tree ownership.

As an example if a tree grows naturally on a farmer’s land, the farmer does not own it. So the government can issue contracts to logging companies to fell the trees and often farmers are not compensated for crop damage that results from felling operations.