MIRO Forestry

Press release

January 15, 2021

FinDev Canada invests USD 12 million in Miro Forestry & Timber Products to expand commercial timber operations and climate change mitigation in West Africa

Press Release

New financing to boost employment in areas of Ghana and Sierra Leone, stimulate local markets, and sequester carbon.

Supporting decent women’s employment: The company developed a gender action plan to improve the recruitment of women and retention in the workforce, reduce absenteeism, and boost productivity. Miro put in place measures to support women employees at work and through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities such as building over 5 community kindergartens, health awareness programs and women’s entrepreneur training for the community.
Creating jobs for women: Miro signed a 2X Challenge commitment based on their target to increase the proportion of women in their workforce to 40% over the next two years in Ghana (currently 26%), which is an ambitious goal for a forestry company operating in remote areas of West Africa.

Miro is one of the principal job providers in the remote regions where it operates, with more than 2,000 employees, including 97% locals.

Increasing carbon sequestration: This investment will allow for greater climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration (in both plantation and conservation areas). Miro has already planted more than 17 million trees on over 20,000 hectares of degraded land in Ghana and Sierra Leone. These forests have cumulatively sequestered over 1.3 million tons of CO2 to date. With expanded operations, the number of trees under cultivation will increase and the company expects to sequester an additional five million tons of CO2 by 2030.
Deriving value from biomass: In addition to carbon sequestration, Miro is also contributing to the reduction of GHG emissions by deriving value from wood waste (e.g. branches, offcuts, sawdust), which represent approximately 50% of total timber from its plantations. The company is selling part of this biomass as a fuel source to bioenergy consumers, displacing coal and heavy fuels, as well as charcoal made from remaining indigenous forest.