LATEST NEWS

Our planting teams are working hard transplanting the young #Teak seedlings to the field for onward growing.
As well as producing #commercial timber crops, we aim to reduce the decline and degradation of our forests through sustainable land management and improving #SoilHealth🇬🇭

Growing and developing 'green skills' in our #plantation environment is invaluable to pass down to the next generation. Transferable #forestry skill sets combined with practical knowledge will be critical in achieving a #GreenGhana365🇬🇭.
#jobs #silviculture #SDGs

In addition to planting 8,000 Teak seedlings today in support of #GreenGhanaDay, we are also planting 1,000 bamboo seedlings for onward growing in our #biodiverse plantation. Working 365 with communities and @fcghana2020 to mobilize for a greener future. >4M trees grown to date🇬🇭

From seed provenance to end purchaser, each stage in the timber journey under the 🇬🇭🇪🇺#FLEGT-VPA (a legally binding #trade agreement) requires verifying as legal, sustainable and traceable.
Being the plantation owner and grower we can ensure just that. #TrustedTimber #Teak #SDGs

Green is the quintessential colour of nature and this chameleon loves our #Teak as much as we do.

Plantations play an important role in biodiversity conservation and restoration when management strikes the right balance. Building a shared future for all life.
#BiodiversityDay 🇬🇭

Turning degraded former forest land back into a fertile, regenerating landscape is a long journey. No land is taken out of food production, and food trees are integrated into our plantation. Creating a #sustainable landscape that can grow and produce for generations. #timber 🇬🇧🇬🇭

We can't take credit for this #ThickTrunkTuesday veteran Ceiba, but we can for protecting it and providing a home for bees/pollinators.
Young and old growth #trees are housed in our plantation environment - creating a varying aged landscape, improving #biodiversity value. #SDGs🇬🇭

In our permanent irrigated nursery, our current germination rates are as high as 85%.
The process of germinating the #Teak seeds is labour intensive; from soaking and drying rotations to hand-weeding and hand selection of the delicate shoots for onward growing.#GreenGhana #SDGs🇬🇭

#Planting numbers grow into tree numbers through active management, maintenance, monitoring, and beat-up to replace any failed or underperforming saplings. Through a continuous cover forestry approach and coppicing #Teak, our 'Always Growing' approach is maximised. #sustainable🇬🇭

Sustainable management of soil not only affects #forest productivity, but also impacts soil's ability as a #carbon sink.
Mulch is the perfect organic material to suppress weeds, conserve moisture and return nutrients back to the soil.
@MajorEquipment #FLEGT #SoilHealth #SDG15🇬🇭

The team at Mere Plantations are proud to be working with D. A. Watts. Jointly bringing sustainably grown, expertly prepared timber to the yacht industry. Environmentally friendly, renewable and fully documented plantation #Teak for the 21st century.
#GrownInGhana #FLEGT🇬🇧🇬🇭

Using natural materials in everyday #plantation life is important to us. Palm fronds are used in germination beds, bamboo for nursery frames, pegs for planting and #timber for security huts and workshop sheds.
Considering our environmental impact at each growing stage. #SDG12♻️🇬🇭

This month we've celebrated #IWD2022 and #AfricaGenderMonth.

Creating equal opportunities employment and skills share in our growing environment, with over 50% of our forestry team being women.

#WomenInForestry 🇬🇭🇬🇧🇮🇪#BreakTheBias #GreeningGhana #GrowInGhana #GrowWithGhana

With 15yrs of tree growing and tending we have gone from seed➡️saw.
Tropical hardwood users, by law, require transparency and traceability for all their #timber.
We only grow on degraded former forestland and ensure #sustainability and traceability.
#ZeroDeforestation #FLEGT🇬🇭🇬🇧

Some examples of how we minimise damage from #wildfire (anthropogenic - poachers).
◦ Security patrol our land to halt illegal activities
◦ Maintain fire-rides to stop fire in its tracks⬇️
◦ Green firebreaks + riparian strips conserve #biodiversity
◦ Grow resilient species🌳🇬🇭

"Forests and sustainable production and consumption" is the theme of this years #IntlForestDay, emphasising the importance of ALL types of forests.

Choose sustainable wood for people and planet.

#FLEGT-VPA🇬🇭🇬🇧#Coppicing >#timber #reforestation #BetterWithForests #SDG12

Both of these photo's were taken in our plantation.

Sustainably growing #timber should be balanced with other considerations: protecting biodiversity, caring for soils, increasing #carbon storage, whilst respecting #people and #nature.

#SoilHealth #GrowingGhana #Teak #SDG15🇬🇭🇬🇧

One of our clients stated that he did not want to be the one who used the last primary forest #Teak tree.
Plantation Teak (grown on degraded former forestland) can sustainably generate quality #timber, meeting the growing demand for legal tropical hardwood.
#GreenGhana #FLEGT🇬🇭

Taking pride in creating a healthy, carbon-sequestering environment that generates #jobs, #timber, and #income in a sustainable manner.

Working with local people encourages successful, long-term outcomes for our reforestation project.

#GrowGhana #SoilHealth #FLEGT-VPA #SDG15🇬🇭

Growing a varying aged, biodiverse, #sustainable landscape over 10,000+ acres that will continue to provide for generations #TimberYouCanTrust.

Taking a continuous cover forestry approach to reforesting degraded former forest land.
#GrowInGhana #GrowWithGhana🇬🇭#SoilHeath #Yield

When establishing a stand of #timber, we take nutrient-deficient soil and over time build nutrient-rich topsoil.

Soil productivity is critical to #sustainable forest management, crop yield and #biodiversity.

Returning #soilhealth to Afram🇬🇭

🦋Butterflies contribute to thriving #ecosystems and can indicate the state of #biodiversity and forest heath.

Here are just a few of the different species spotted on our plantations last week.

Our #Teak Plantations are anything but a green desert!

#SDG15 #mulch #SoilHealth🇬🇭

Investment begins with a realistic chance of generating a return. That return shouldn't only be financial, #ESG principles are equally as important. A business should be set up for there to be no losers.
Growing #timber with the community in🇬🇭is #trading beyond the need for Aid.

Discussing how we can better address the risks of #wildfire through satellite early warning and proactive management.

Growing #trees is a journey. Thank you Hugh Brown, Head of Plantations Division @fcghana2020 for walking with us🙏🏾

#AlwaysGrowing #alwayslearning #plantation🇬🇭

A great evening at the British High Commission in Accra. Thank you to @HCThompson001 and the @UKinGhana team. British businesses working together to deliver clean, green growth in Ghana.

#SDGs 🇬🇭 #reforestation #TradebeyondAid

Nature’s own fertiliser🍂🍂🍂
Teak leaves are perfect mulching material and soil-builder, organically fertilising the #soil through decomposition.
The leaf litter acts as a natural blanket of mulch, regulating soil moisture and temperature.
Healthy soils = healthy plants + trees

Keeping fire-rides and green breaks maintained during the dry Harmattan season. Educating employees and the community on fire prevention, control, and suppression. Our ground patrols, combined with satellite early warning detection, help mitigate #wildfire risks. #SDG13🇬🇭#SDG15🇬🇭

From seed to saw, the process of delivering sustainable timber to market cannot be done without people. Mere in the U.K. and Ghana would like to wish all our customers, employees, partners and supporters a very happy Christmas and all the best for 2022🎉
#AlwaysGrowing #FLEGT🇬🇭🇬🇧

There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to restoration of degraded former forestland.
By concentrating on #SoilHealth for productivity and profitability, we are ensuring the land will provide and be truly sustainable for generations.
#SDG15 🇬🇭🌳#ZeroDeforestation

Mark, on behalf of the team at Mere, has proudly accepted the offer of an Honorary College Fellowship from @MyerscoughColl in recognition of outstanding achievements and work in #Forestry.
Sharing knowledge of our unique experience of tropical plantation establishment @UKinGhana

More people are starting to question where their #timber comes from, and rightly so. The best way is to buy direct from transparent growers.
Taking a long-term view on resources, ensuring timber is harvested responsibly and forests are well-managed. #coppicing #sustainable #SDGs

Actions, not words, will count post @COP26

Improving soil health that has been degraded for decades, creating and maintaining firebreaks, incorporating buffer zones for #biodiversity, sustainably growing #timber on a coppice basis whilst locking up carbon #TogetherForOurPlanet

Creating quality employment, opportunities, whilst enhancing #sustainable livelihoods in rural communities through forest plantation development.

Direct trading and investment that is driving growth in the rural economy whilst growing a carbon sink.
#SDGs🇬🇭#COP26 #YouthWorkWeek

The building material nature intended. Renewable, recyclable and regenerating, wood is the perfect alternative to replace carbon intensive materials.

Management and maintenance means we can keep our forests providing and sequestering carbon for longer.

#SDGs🇬🇭 #COP26 @UKinGhana

From seed selection, through germination and growing, to final product. Owning the process from seed nursery to #timber enables whole tree usage and zero timber waste.
Through our #coppicing programme our plantations will continue to provide for generations. @UKinGhana🇬🇭🇬🇧@COP26

Maintaining continuous cover forestry through rotational #Teak coppicing, protecting remnant species and managing a healthy ground cover for #soilhealth
Buffer zones serve a dual purpose contributing to carbon sequestration and are wildlife corridors.
#SDGs #COP26 @UKinGhana🇬🇧🇬🇭

Every piece of #wood tells a story, but you need to hold it to feel its weight - 'Tough as #Teak' doesn't cut it! Andy at AJS sawmill commented, "It's gorgeous wood, the tungsten carbide blades cut very well. The sapwood is harder than some hardwoods!"
#zerowaste #Sustainable🇬🇭🇬🇧

More containers of #Teak are arriving in Sealand today!

Through #sustainable and #commercial timber growing in rural Ghana, jobs and opportunities for training are created. Our benefit sharing agreement has meant clean water to communities and improved lives.

>#timber #SDGs🇬🇧🇬🇭

Our first containers of #Teak have started arriving at AJS Saw Mills in the U.K. for processing.
Tropical timber grown sustainably with our uniquely guaranteed traceability from seed to saw.

#BenefitShare #FLEGT #TradeBeyondAid #SDGs
#AfricaClimateWeek @UKinGhana 🇬🇧🇬🇭

Possessing an array of knowledge beyond the classroom, Alice and Pokua may have basic/no formal education but they understand nature. Their indigenous #forestry and leadership skills are second to none and invaluable to our #growing team.
#WomenInForestry #opportunities #SDGs🇬🇭

Working together for a #tradebeyondaid Ghana. Creating rural employment, skills and knowledge sharing, food and water security. A benefit sharing agreement with the community to #LeaveNoOneBehind through contract growing of #timber crops to replace carbon-intensive materials.🇬🇧🇬🇭

A billion shades of green and noisy with the sound of nature.
Contract growing trees for #timber allows us to breathe life back into degraded former forestlands; addressing drivers of deforestation, ensuring sustainable growth, and allowing older forests to recover @UKinGhana🇬🇧🇬🇭

Adopting a holistic approach to plantation management through continuous cover forestry. We regard the whole ecosystem as the production capital of the forest including soil, carbon, water, vegetation, wildlife, as well as sustained timber yield from coppicing.
#resilience #SDG15

Quite simply, capturing carbon.
🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳
Managing soils, vegetation, and tree health through a resilient reforestation programme; replacing carbon- intensive materials with natures' preferred option.
#NatureBasedSolutions #AlwaysGrowing #CleanAir #HealthySoils #SDG15🇬🇭

Meeting with @RYofiGrant @gipcghana celebrating over a decade of sustainable plantation developments in rural Ghana.
Making a +impact on forest-fringe livelihoods and the environment, through job creation, growth and #FLEGT and #REDD education.
#GrownInGhana #GrowWithGhana.🇬🇧🇬🇭

Great to attend the closing reception of the #ClimateConversations exhibition last night @BuildingCentre. The @TTF_FLEGT team made superb hosts!
Seeing the displays up close brought home the importance of the #timber industry to the future. The building material nature intended.

#Wildfires fuel climate change and #climatechange fuels wildfires, but most fires are human caused.
Risks can be successfully mitigated through better management, education, land-use planning, debris removal, maintained firebreaks/rides and resilient planting.
#BetterWithForests

Mulching of #organic matter greatly improves #soil structure, which in turn promotes percolation and the filtration of nutrients into the subsoil layer.
The movement of organic #carbon from the topsoil to the subsoil occurs, where it is more permanently stored.
#SLM #SDG15🇬🇭

Our managed plantations with maintained fire-rides are wildlife corridors for #nature.
Through good forest governance, and forest education, we are protecting old growth trees from illegal logging and wildfire, whilst growing millions of new trees.
#WorldNatureConversationDay🦋🇬🇭

Very impressive growth rates in our newly established compartments, planted in late 2020.
#Teak, being a pioneer species, needs reduced competition for light in early years. Regular weeding and maintenance is carried out to ensure successful stand development. #NetZeroWeek2021

Healthy, growing trees are the ultimate carbon capture and storage machines. Fixing carbon through year-round growth in the Ghanaian climate, perfect for #Teak.
We encourage understory vegetation that plays a vital role in regulating soil carbon and nitrogen.
#NetZeroWeek2021🇬🇭🇬🇧

Healthy young trees planted out in November 2020. The @MajorEquipment Cyclone mowers are the perfect machines for management, and maintaining plantation margins for biodiversity. Nutrients are being returned to the topsoil and combustible material is mulched.
Working with nature.

Truly #sustainable timber grown on degraded former forest land. Legal wood #trade helps fight deforestation and climate change while improving livelihoods.
Delivering real environmental benefits and financial returns.
#AlwaysGrowing #coppice #TrustedTimber #BenefitShare #FLEGT🇬🇭

Forestry operations create a wide range of opportunities.
Providing much needed #youth employment and skills training that are inclusive. Growing a team who care about creating a resilient, sustainable environment. #forests #future #timber #benefitshare #SDGs #tradebeyondaid🇬🇭

Establishing a nitrogen-fixing cover crop between young trees is a good strategy to minimise #soil erosion. Understory vegetation and grasses add to the #carbon enrichment and soil fertility, maintaining the nutrient supply crucial for sustaining productivity.
#greengrowth #SDGs

We take a multifaceted approach to our commercial forestry operations. By investing in sustainable land management of degraded former forestland we are breathing life back into soils, communities and habitats. #Regeneration through #reforestation now and for future #generations🇬🇭

Good #forestry and #farming practices stand the test of time. Ensuring yields are #sustainable and maximised, benefits of sustainable land management are intertwined with the #environment, human needs and #commerciality.
Thinking in life cycles, as opposed to election cycles.

Through constant and careful stand #management, we are able to extract significant amounts of high-quality #timber with low-impact. We regard #ecosystem services as the production capital of the forest by adopting a continuous cover #forestry approach.
#resilience #AlwaysGrowing

#Coppicing can be traced back to Neolithic times (ca.4500 BC). Late Stone Age man knew how to manage a sustainable source of #timber.
With good #silviculture practices, coppiced stands can produce immense volumes over time. Rapidly growing trees can efficiently sequester #carbon.

As part of our commitment to biodiversity, 6,000 #indigenous Terminalia superba seedlings have been germinated.
Their flowers attract pollinators like #bees and flies. The bark is used in #traditional medicine as a treatment for wounds, malaria, ovarian problems and bronchitis.

Reforestation of degraded #forest land is an important part of tackling climate change and, if done right, it can support biodiversity and human wellbeing too. #Plantations can be part of the solution.
Sharing our landscape with nature, #ForNature.
#SDGs🇬🇭#BiodiversityDay2021

Permanent sample plots provide long-term datasets for growth and yield monitoring, mean tree sizes, stand volume, carbon sequestration figures and growth projections. The extrapolated data is used for #timber supply analysis and influences sustainable forest management decisions.

A benefit of managed #plantations is safeguarding remaining old growth trees. Our security team and employees protect these majestic trees that form a crucial part of the landscape for biodiversity and climate change.
Happy #ThickTruckTuesday🇬🇭

We only consider a #tree planted once it has done at least a full 12 months in the ground and is thriving.
#Management and #maintenance need to be ongoing to ensure best tree survival rates following planting out from the nursery.

Knowledge and #skillsharing maximises productivity, efficiency and profitability through developing industry competent staff.
The benefits of mentoring are myriad. Providing decent opportunities for #ForestryJobs and contributing to #RuralEmployment.
#plantations #SDGs🇬🇭

Our #climatechange action began >10yrs ago planting and growing a sustainable timber business. Dialogue with communities, chiefs, and scientists began >15yrs ago. Despite challenges, we continue to deliver a sustainable business creating real world solutions to #SDGs #BeyondAid🇬🇭

Many of our female employees are skilled in pruning Teak to grow stronger, better formed, and healthier.

Light penetration enables tree and vegetation growth, thus enriching the soil and providing an understory for habitats.
#RuralJobs #benefitshare #GrowWithGhana🇬🇭

#Satellite data for #forestry is useful when coupled with knowledge on the ground e.g. #tree height, MAI, species, density and maturity, vegetation, soil quality, fire damage, encroachment.
With deciduous stands, leaf flush, leaf tinting and leaf fall are also important factors.

Commercially growing teak interwoven with tracts of natural vegetation enhances #biodiversity.

Within our #plantation, riparian strips are earmarked for water and biodiversity protection as well as designated conservation areas.

Contract growing timber #sustainably.

Low-tech forestry, combined with holistic land management practices, will yield multiple benefits.

Healthy forests support a wide range of services for ecosystems and livelihoods. By #coexisting with nature we appreciate what healthy soils and trees provide.

#WorldEarthDay2021

Formative #pruning from an early age is important to help develop tree form, removing double leaders and malformed stems.

Subsequent pruning is undertaken to improve value and marketability, removing defects to produce high-quality knot-free #timber of even grain and texture.

Low impact thinning minimises soil disturbance, and through good coppice management we maintain a healthy #growing environment.

Sustainably managing lands means providing for the present and for future generations in a changing climate.

#SDGs #BSA #SoilHealth #resilience #FLEGT