Kofi Akamani

Barriers to collaborative forest management and implications for building the resilience of forest-dependent communities in the Ashanti region of Ghana

Community resilience, the capacity of a community to adapt to change in ways that result in positive impacts on its well-being, is increasingly used as a framework for understanding and enhancing the sustainability of forest-dependent communities as social-ecological systems. However, studies linking community resilience to the implementation of forest management programs are limited. This study uses community resilience literature and analyzes data collected from interviews to study barriers of forest-dependent communities of collaborative forest management (CFM) in two forest-dependent communities in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Analysis revealed the barriers in community response to CFM programs in these two communities comprise institutional shortfalls in the design and implementation of the CFM program that have constrained the incentives, capacity and opportunities for communities to successfully adapt to the program. The paper offers recommendations on how the CFM program can contribute to building the resilience of communities in managing their forests. The first is to build institutional capacity of communities to play an active role in forest governance, and the second is the prioritization of well-being and livelihood enhancement as forest management goals.

Managing Wicked Environmental Problems as Complex Social-Ecological Systems: The Promise of Adaptive Governance

Lessons learned from the failure of rational-comprehensive planning approaches to the management of water and other natural resources have led to a rethinking of the nature of resource management problems. The concept of wicked problems is increasingly used to describe problems that lack consensus in terms of their definition and solutions. In line with the ongoing search for appropriate conceptual frameworks and institutions for managing wicked problems, this chapter argues for a reconceptualization of wicked problems as complex social-ecological systems . Such a reconceptualization calls for a resilience-based approach to managing wicked problems through adaptive governance institutions. Adaptive governance provides a multi-level institutional framework for managing the uncertainties and conflicts that characterize wicked environmental problems. This argument is illustrated using the case of the Cache River watershed in southern Illinois, USA.

Toward Ecosystem-Based Adaptation to Climate Change in West Africa: The Potential Contributions of Non-governmental Organizations

There is a growing consensus that climate change is occurring and that anthropogenic factors are contributing significantly to it. While past policies emphasized climate change mitigation, the anticipated impacts of climate change such as floods and drought call for a significant boost in adaptation policies in order to ensure sustainable development. However, conventional top-down, sectoral approaches to climate change adaptation also have potential adverse social and ecological consequences that threaten long term sustainability goals. Managing the impacts of climate change requires the coordination of efforts across multiple scales and sectors. This realization has led to the turn toward ecosystem-based adaptation which adopts a multi-sectoral approach to sustaining healthy ecosystems as a means of reducing vulnerability and enhancing the resilience of social and ecological systems to climate change impacts and other drivers of change. Although the concept of ecosystem-based adaptation appears promising, the transition from conventional climate change adaptation policies toward ecosystem-based adaptation in West Africa has been slow. This chapter examines the key features of the ecosystem-based adaptation approach, as well as its potential to enhance climate change resilience in the West African context. The chapter also discusses the potential roles of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in enhancing awareness, generating interest, creating opportunities, and building capacities for enhancing the transition toward ecosystem-based adaptation. In view of the strengths and weaknesses of NGOs, the chapter concludes that the successful transition toward ecosystem-based adaptation requires adaptive governance mechanisms for connecting state representatives, as well as communities and the private sector across multiple levels in an on-going process of learning and adapting to change.

Using Adaptive Governance to Enhance Transitions toward Sustainable and Resilient Energy Systems

Abstract The field of energy policy is concerned with the promotion of energy production systems and consumption patterns that enhance socio-economic well-being, energy efficiency, environmental protection, and equitable access. It is increasingly recognized that the attainment of sustainable energy systems requires a transformation from the current system, characterized by the dominance of fossil fuels, toward an alternative system that accommodates renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, modern biomass, and small-scale hydropower. Renewable energy sources offer several advantages, including environmental friendliness, diversity, security, and opportunities for local community involvement through decentralized management. Yet the process of transition toward alternative energy supply sources has been slow. Using theoretical insights from research on resilience in social-ecological systems, this paper argues for an adaptive governance approach to enhancing the transition toward sustainable and resilient energy systems in sub-Saharan Africa in the face of the uncertainties and conflicts that characterize the energy transition process.

Beyond Panaceas in Land Tenure Systems in Ghana: Insights from Resilience and Adaptive Governance of Social-Ecological Systems

Land tenure basically refers to the system of formal and informal institutions governing people’s relationship with one another and with the land and natural resources on which they depend. Historically, customary land tenure systems that rely on traditional institutions for managing access to communally owned lands have been the dominant medium for land allocation in Ghana and most of sub-Saharan Africa. For several decades, tenure reforms have focused on transforming the African land tenure system from the customary system through land nationalization and privatization. Among other issues, the goals have been to promote tenure security, economic efficiency, and sustainable resource management. Thus far, these tenure reforms have yielded mixed results. Current problems include bottlenecks in land administration, weakening of traditional institutions, and increasing marginalization and landlessness among vulnerable groups. Based on insights from the literature on resilience in social-ecological systems, this chapter highlights the need to move beyond the search for panaceas in land policy toward institutional frameworks that can mediate the complex and dynamic relationships between people and land. The chapter proposes adaptive governance as an institutional framework that can promote an integrated approach to managing land and other natural resources with the aim of building the resilience of communities and regions against the impacts of various drivers of change.