Yaw Agyeman Boafo

The role of traditional ecological knowledge in ecosystem services management: the case of four rural communities in Northern Ghana

ABSTRACT This study combines qualitative and quantitative research to examine perceptions held by rural households in Northern Ghana regarding the value of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in the management of ecosystem services. Key informant interviews (n = 14), household questionnaire surveys (n = 195), field observations, and dissemination meetings were employed to collect data. Results suggest the regular use of different but interrelated forms of TEK, i.e. taboos and totems, customs and rituals, rules and regulations, and traditional protected areas, to manage ecosystem services through existing sociocultural mechanisms. However, household awareness of TEK did not equate with compliance. A wide discrepancy in views on TEK was observed across surveyed households. A generalized linear model (GLM) regression analysis suggests age to be the most significant determinant of TEK awareness and compliance. Compared with mature and younger adults, the elderly appear more likely to be aware of and comply with characterized TEK systems. Notwithstanding these findings, the use of traditional protected areas as a form of TEK appears to be highly valued by the majority of survey participants. Demand-led research aimed at examining TEK’s role in the face of changing socioeconomic and environmental conditions can contribute to the formulation and implementation of policy-relevant strategies. EDITED BY Leni Camacho

Assessing the food security outcomes of industrial crop expansion in smallholder settings: insights from cotton production in Northern Ghana and sugarcane production in Central Ethiopia

The current industrial crop (IC) expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) may have important ramifications for food security. This study proposes a rapid appraisal method that can capture the food security outcomes of IC expansion in smallholder settings in SSA. A key element of this approach is a common unit of household caloric intake that captures food security across its four pillars (availability, access, utilization, stability). This approach also considers the role of women in household food security. The proposed approach is tested in two radically different smallholder IC settings: cotton production in Northern Ghana and sugarcane production in Central Ethiopia.

The Ghana Model for Resilience Enhancement in Semiarid Ghana: Conceptualization and Social Implementation

Many government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and academic and research institutions have over the past two decades conducted studies and implemented actions aimed at developing frameworks, models, and tools to assess the resilience to climate and ecosystem changes of vulnerable communities. However, actions and studies encompassing empirical field tests of the assessment instruments are relatively few. This chapter reports the outcomes of an empirically applied resilience assessment framework, hereafter referred to as the “Ghana Model,” which was initiated as part of the “Enhancing Resilience to Climate and Ecosystem Changes in Semi-Arid Africa: An Integrated Approach (CECAR-Africa)” project, implemented in Ghana’s semiarid ecosystem. The chapter provides a concise description of the “Ghana Model” as an integrated resilience assessment framework as underpinned by seven principles while highlighting the concrete actions and steps taken in operationalizing it. As a clinically valid approach for resilience assessment, the Ghana Model provides valuable evidence to aid decision and policymakers in Ghana in designing and implementing adaptation strategies for climate change in vulnerable communities and households. As a resilience assessment template, it can be applied in other ecosystems within other sub-Saharan African countries as well as other developing economies. The Ghana Model can enrich ongoing discourse on global sustainability as well as provide relevant output toward the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.

Impacts of Ghana’s Bui dam hydroelectricity project on the livelihood of downstream non-resettled communities

Ghana’s socio-economic development, since independence, has been driven by the Akosombo and Kpong dams that provide water (for domestic, agriculture and industrial use) and hydroelectricity. It was hoped that with these past experiences, the Ghana government would be in a better position to manage the livelihood issues of the newly built Bui hydroelectricity dam better. Using a modified political ecology framework, this study examined the implications of the Bui dam project on the livelihoods of the downstream communities, which have received limited scholarly attention. Results from 158 household questionnaire interviews, corroborated by in-depth interviews with relevant stakeholders and focus group discussions indicate a complete lack of compensation package of any form for affected downstream communities. Fishing and farming, the dominant livelihood strategies of the households interviewed, have become unproductive and unsustainable leading to reduced incomes. Additionally, the unregulated activities of small-scale gold miners (galamsey) in the river bed which were made possible after the Bui dam’s construction were cited by most interviewees and focus group discussants for its negative impacts on human and ecological health. In a nutshell, existing livelihoods systems of downstream non-resettled communities post the Bui dam construction have been severely disrupted. Addressing the present challenges facing downstream communities in an integrative and participatory manner should be the top priority of the dam planners and implementers especially the Bui Power Authority and the District Assemblies.

Toward Enhancing Resilience to Climate and Ecosystem Changes in Semi-Arid Africa: Evidence from Northern Ghana

With societies, communities, and households continually experiencing changes in social, economic, and environmental conditions, building resilience to mitigate and adapt to shocks and stresses associated with these inherent changes has become an urgent matter. Development of a comprehensive resilience assessment framework with the active engagement of multiple relevant stakeholders can foster the adoption and promotion of plausible and practical resilience enhancement strategies among vulnerable groups. The interdisciplinary research project called ‘Enhancing Resilience to Climate and Ecosystem Changes in Semi-Arid Africa: An Integrated Approach’ (CECAR-Africa) was initiated in 2010 as part of the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) program for international research into pressing global issues by researchers in Japan and developing countries. CECAR-Africa aimed to contribute to filling gaps in resilience assessment whilst proposing tested, practical and sustainable resilience enhancement strategies for use in socio-ecological regions with a special focus on flood and drought-prone rural communities and households in semiarid Northern Ghana.

Internationalization and Localization of the Ghana Model: Lessons Learned, Opportunities for Upscaling, and Future Directions

The significance of incorporating adaptation responses within climate and environmental change policies is well acknowledged. The involvement of diverse and relevant stakeholders is essential in the identification, characterization, and implementation of adaptation measures for enhancing resilience and reducing vulnerability. The “Ghana Model” was developed through transdisciplinary and solutions-oriented sustainability science approaches that incorporated collaboration between researchers, scientists, development practitioners in public and private sectors, as well as governmental and nongovernmental organizations under the Enhancing Resilience to Climate and Ecosystem Change in Semi-Arid Africa: An Integrated Approach (CECAR-Africa) project. In this concluding chapter, we discuss the opportunities that exist, and the efforts that can be made, to upscale the Ghana Model to other sub-Saharan African countries with similar socioecological conditions. The lessons learned from designing and implementing the Ghana Model are discussed, and the proposed future actions designed to ensure sustainability are considered.

Stakeholder perceptions of the outcomes of reforms on the performance and sustainability of the cotton sector in Ghana and Burkina Faso: A tale of two countries

Abstract This study investigates the outcomes of reforms on the performance of the cotton sector in Ghana and Burkina Faso. These structural and policy reforms have been aimed at promoting competition and enhancing productivity, largely under the pressure of external donor agencies. The study draws on in-depth semi-structured interviews with stakeholders involved in different aspects of cotton value chains in the two countries. In particular, it elicits their perception of how reforms affected six domains (input credit systems, price determination and profit distribution, extension services, research and development, institutional and regulatory systems, and food security) related to the performance of the sector. This is complemented with the analysis of policy documents and annual cotton production statistics pre- and post-reform. Results indicate that reforms in Ghana and Burkina Faso took different directions, and subsequently, generated different outcomes to the six performance domains. Stakeholders in Ghana perceived predominantly negative outcomes, whereas Burkinabe stakeholders perceived both negative and positive outcomes. Regarding price determination for instance, Ghanaian respondents mentioned the lack of transparency in the seasonal price-setting system and the decline in government revenue and farmer profit as direct outcomes of reform actions. Burkinabe respondents cited the guaranteed minimum price, high profit-sharing among farmers, and the favorable price incentives as some positive outcomes of the reforms. The empirical information outlined in this study can be used to identify the positive and negative lessons learnt that can be relevant to stakeholders in the public and private sector, and efforts to help sustain the cotton sector in different parts of sub-Saharan Africa.