Assessing Landcover Changes from Coastal Tourism Development in Ghana: Evidence from the Kokrobite-Bortianor Coastline, Accra

As a major driver of landcover change, tourism-based developments are growing rapidly along different part of Ghana’s 560 km coastline. Kokrobite and Bortianor, with their serene environment, relatively clean, and pristine sandy beaches, have become popular coastal tourism destinations for tourists, recreationist, and holiday seekers in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. This study assesses how landcover changes emanating from coastal tourism establishments such as hotels, resorts, restaurants, and recreational facilities are affecting the socio-ecological landscape of the area. In this study, we utilize the maximum likelihood supervised classification along with post classification change detection techniques to analyze Landsat images for the years 1990, 2000 and 2010. Landcover maps of the different years were created and used to analyze changes occurring along the coastline of Kokrobite and Bortianor. Assembled results showed that built-up areas associated largely with tourism-based establishments have increased substantially from 1.02 km2 (16%) to 2.20 km2 (34.6%) between 1990 and 2010. Approximately 60% of the Kokrobite and Bortianor coastline’s natural ecosystem has been converted into different forms of tourism-based facilities such as hotels, resorts and settlements. Conversely, all forms of vegetative cover–riverine, dense active, and shrub/herbaceous cover are declining significantly. Increased tourist and recreationist demands along with the rapid urban growth in Accra is a preeminent cause of the current trends of developments. Regrettably, majority of the tourism-based establishments are unplanned, lacking authorization from development institutions and agencies, a reflection of the lack of a coherent integrated coastal zone management plan and functional urban landuse policy in Ghana. The result is a significant encroachment and degradation of the coastal ecosystems. Considering the already vulnerable state of most coastal areas in Ghana including Kokrobite and Bortianor, such developments could aggravate social and ecological vulnerability if left unchecked. In line with this, this study recommends the urgent need for a functional integrated coastal zone management plan and resourced institutions and agencies to enable effective management and regulation of developments in coastal zones in Ghana. Ultimately, coastal tourism, with all its recognized and potential socio-economic benefits to local and national economies can only be sustained with an ecologically productive coastal zone. Keywords: Tourism, Coastal tourism, Landcover, Kokrobite and Bortianor, Erosio

Integrative Nutzung von GIS und Fernerkundung zur Erfassung der Auswirkung von Störung der Habitatdiversität und Veränderungen der Vegetationsbedeckung in einer Bergbaufolgelandschaft

Human influence on the biosphere has transformed natural land cover (LC) into modified LC. Shifting focus from individual species study to large-scale assessment is therefore needed to restore the damaged ecosystem. The hypotheses were: (a) the post-mining landscapes are getting more diverse over time (b) GIS, remote sensing and patch analyst can generate LC information and landscape characterization statistics for assessing habitat diversity and monitoring land cover change (LCC) in a disturbance-dominated area (c) relationship exist between habitat diversity and field based species richness/LCC and environmental conditions/LCC and biodiversity losses. The general aims of this research were (a) to assess the impact of disturbance on LCC and habitat diversity (b) to identify how accurately patterns of habitat diversity, complexity, fragmentation, primary production and LCC can be assessed or predicted with GIS and remotely sensed data. LC maps of 1988, 1991, 1995, 1998, 2000 and 2003 were produced from LANDSAT TM images of Schlabendorf Nord and Schlabendorf Süd. These images were used to survey the changing landscape. After classifying the images based on dominant land cover types, the area and perimeter of all patches were defined. Landscape characterization metrics were generated using patch analyst. LCC statistics were estimated for each LC map year. Change detection extension was used to identify changes among vegetation or land cover types into “negative change”, “no change” and “positive change”. DCA ordination technique (CANOCO) was used to study similarity among the distribution of land cover types. Other relevant analysis made include soil pH analysis and climate data evaluation. The outcome of the research shows that the process of LCC takes place at the interface between environmental and human systems. Land cover transformations in most cases in Schlabendorf were as a result of progressive and reversed plant succession. Overall changes in both landscapes showed increased area of pine afforestation, deciduous trees afforestation, lake and mixed grassland with trees. The LCC s were predominantly caused by harvesting of afforested pine, restoration related construction activities or other land cover management practices, reverse succession, low soil pH especially along the path of the mine strip, loss of soil fertility, human decisions and policies. There was increase in habitat richness, heterogeneity, fragmentation, and shape complexity due to decrease in habitat size, increased land use intensity etc. Lower habitat diversity in Schlabendorf Süd was due to the comparatively large landscape area, high patch number and higher habitat richness in most cases which confirms the claim that relationship between habitat diversity and habitat heterogeneity varies according to scale (Tews et al., 2004). Increase in biomass accumulation particularly in Schlabendorf Süd contributed to the exchanges for greenhouse gases between the forest cover, soil and the atmosphere, hence changing the climatic condition on terrestrial ecosystems, biodiversity and LCC. Unlike Schlabendorf Nord, Schlabendorf Süd still undergoes more active reclamation activities resulting in less similarity between the two post-mining landscapes over time. Within a given ecosystem, any change in habitat diversity can change the number of species in the resulting habitats types, in other words habitat diversity can be used to predict the species richness in a given ecosystem. The approach to this work provides a beneficial trade off between expensive ground vegetation or LCC survey and low-priced image processing analysis. It requires less manpower and less time but greatly reliable for assessing LCC, habitat diversity/richness and heterogeneity in large inaccessible areas such as dunes in post-mining landscape.Menschlicher Einfluss auf die Biosphäre hat die natürliche Vegetationsbedeckung (LC) verändert. Deshalb wird eine Verschiebung von Studien einzelner Arten zu großräumigen Untersuchungen benötigt, um geschädigte Ökosysteme wieder herzustellen. Die Hypothesen waren: (a) die Diversität in den Bergbaufolgelandschaften steigt im Laufe der Zeit; (b) GIS, Fernerkundung und Patch-Analyse können LC-Informationen und Statistiken zur Landschaftskennzeichnung erzeugen, die für die Bestimmung von Habitatdiversität und zur Überwachung des Wandels der Landbedeckung (LCC) in einem störungsdominierten Gebiet genutzt werden können; (c) es gibt eine Beziehung zwischen Habitatdiversität und Felddaten zu Artenreichtum/LCC, Umweltbedingungen/LCC und Diversitätsverlusten. Die allgemeinen Ziele dieser Forschung waren (a) die Auswirkung der Störung auf LCC und Habitatdiversität festzustellen, (b) zu überprüfen, wie genau Muster der Habitatdiversität, der Komplexität, der Fragmentierung, der Primärproduktion und des LCC mit GIS und Ferndaten bestimmt oder vorausgesagt werden können. LC-Karten der Jahre 1988, 1991, 1995, 1998, 2000 und 2003 wurden aus LANDSAT-TM-Bildern von Schlabendorf-Nord und Schlabendorf-Süd erstellt. Diese Bilder wurden verwendet, um die sich ändernde Landschaft zu erfassen. Nach der Klassifizierung der Bilder auf der Basis der dominierenden Klassen der Landbedeckung wurden das Gebiet und der Durchmesser aller Patches definiert. Metriken zur Landschaftscharakterisierung wurden unter Verwendung der Patchanalyse erzeugt. LCC Statistiken wurden für jedes LC-Kartenjahr geschätzt. Change detection extension wurde verwendet, um Änderungen der Vegetation oder der land cover types als „negative Änderung“, „keine Änderung“ und „positive Änderung“ zu identifizieren. DCA-Ordination (CANOCO) wurde verwendet, um Ähnlichkeiten der Verteilung der land cover types zu studieren. Andere relevante Analysen umfassen die Messung des Boden-pH-Wertes und eine Auswertung der Klimadaten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der LCC-Prozess an der Schnittstelle zwischen menschlichen und Umweltsystemen stattfindet. Änderungen der Landbedeckung in Schlabendorf resultierten in den meisten Fällen aus progressiver und regressiver Pflanzensukzession. Insgesamt zeigten sich in beiden Landschaften ein vergrößertes Gebiet der Kieferaufforstung, der Aufforstung mit Laubbäumen, des Sees und des Offenlandes mit Bäumen. Die LCCs wurden überwiegend durch Rodung der aufgeforsteten Kiefern, durch Restaurierungsmaßnahmen, durch umgekehrte Sukzession, durch den niedrigen pH-Wert im Boden besonders entlang des Tagebaus, durch Verlust der Bodenfruchtbarkeit sowie durch politische Entscheidungen verursacht. Es gab eine Zunahme des Habitatreichtums, der Heterogenität, der Fragmentierung und der Komplexität wegen der Verringerung der Habitatgröße, der steigenden Landnutzungsintensität etc. Die geringere Habitatdiversität in Schlabendorf-Süd lag in den meisten Fällen am verhältnismäßig großen Landschaftsausschnitt, an der hohen Zahl der Patches und am höheren Habitatreichtum. Das bestätigt die Annahme, dass das Verhältnis zwischen Habitatdiversität und Habitatheterogenität von der Skalierung abhängig ist. Die Zunahme der Biomasseakkumulation insbesondere in Schlabendorf-Süd trug zum Treibhausgasaustausch zwischen der Waldbedeckung, dem Boden und der Atmosphäre bei und veränderte folglich die klimatischen Verhältnisse in terrestrischen Ökosystemen, die Biodiversität und den LCC. Anders als Schlabendorf-Nord durchläuft Schlabendorf-Süd noch weitere Rekultivierungsmaßnahmen, so dass daraus im Laufe der Zeit eine geringere Ähnlichkeit zwischen den zwei Bergbaufolgelandschaften entstehen wird. Innerhalb eines vorhandenen Ökosystems kann jede Änderung in der Habitatdiversität die Artenzahl in den resultierenden Habitattypen ändern, mit anderen Worten kann Habitatdiversität verwendet werden, um den Artenreichtum in einem gegebenen Ökosystem vorauszusagen. Die vorliegende Arbeit liefert einen vorteilhaften Ausgleich zwischen teurer Vegetations- oder LCC-Analyse und preiswerterer Bildverarbeitungsanalyse. Sie erfordert weniger menschliche Arbeitskraft und weniger Zeit, ist aber zuverlässig genug für die Einschätzung des LCC, von Habitatdiversität/Reichtum und der Heterogenität in großen unzugänglichen Bereichen wie Dünen in Bergbaufolgelandschaften

Impact of Disturbance on Diversity and LCC Using GIS and Remote Sensing Declarations This doctoral dissertation “Integrating GIS and Remote Sensing for Assessing the

Landscape ” was completed and written independently by me ANTWI Effah Kwabena. I hereby declare that: 1. This PhD thesis was completed and written independently and that all used sources and tools are indicated in the thesis. 2. The publication of the thesis does not violate any copyright rules. All other work and/or words of others are appropriately cited or quoted. 3. I have never applied for a doctoral degree award in BTU or any institution before; or submitted any earlier applications to obtain permission for final examination or publication of my doctoral degree in part or in whole. 4. There has never been an instance where my application to get permission for final examination or publication of a doctoral degree has been cancelled, disqualified or unsuccessful due to my attempt to deceive. The research is an accurate and original account of my work done under the framework of the Environmental and Resource Management doctoral program offered by the Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus. It includes objectiv

Agricultural and Extension Education for Sustainability Approach

The study analyzed the emerging land rights and the extent of the relationship between agricultural and extension education and soil conservation practices. A survey of 376 household heads randomly sampled respondents was administered using a well-structured questionnaire. Results from correlation analysis revealed that the relationship between "agricultural and extension education" and the soil conservation variables "mulching, zero tillage, and the use of crop residues or household refuse" was positive, moderate in strength, and statistically significant. However, the relationship between "agricultural and extension education" and "slash and burn agriculture" was negative, moderate in strength, and statistically significant. The results from the linear probability model show that the coefficients of "Agricultural and Extension education" are statistically significant at a 1% level of significance for all the model specifications except the case where "organic fertilizer" is used as the dependent variable. Specifically, the results indicate that Agricultural and Extension education increases the probability of farmers practising mulching, use of crop or household residues, and zero tillage by 59.4, 16.1, and 33.6 percentage points, respectively. Also, Agricultural and Extension Education decreases the probability of farmers practising slash and burn agriculture by about 16.2 percentage points. Agricultural and Extension education increases the probability of farmers practising at least two of the soil conservations by 25 percentage points, while it increases the probability of farmers practising at least three of those soil conservations by 5.5 percentage points. Based on the results, we propose the Agricultural and Extension Education for Sustainability approach. This approach consists of knowledge, skills, motivation, awareness, concern, responsibility, and action. Therefore, policies geared towards agricultural and extension services should be highly prioritized

Environmental Generation Framework: A Case of Environmental Awareness Among farmers and Senior High School Students for Sustainable Development

Having access to a reliable environmental source of education contributes to pro-environmental behaviors. Yet, it is unclear whether such environmental education should be centered on the current or the next generation. To investigate the possible impact of environmental education on sustainable development and make a comparison between the older and the future generations, this research surveyed 376 household heads (also farmers) from two municipalities and 200 Senior High School students from four municipalities/districts in the Eastern region of Ghana. The results revealed that both farmers and students demonstrated considerable environmental awareness. However, the students showed a higher and acceptable cumulative percentage environmental knowledge score than the farmers. The results from the Linear Probability Model estimates of perceived environmental knowledge indicate that being a male increases the probability of having perceived environmental knowledge by 30.8 percentage points, controlling other demographic characteristics. Whiles being enrolled in a Senior High School (young generation) increases the probability of having perceived environmental knowledge by 30.8 percentage points. Furthermore, over 98% of the students indicated their availability to equip themselves better to confront the deteriorating environment compared to 81% of the older generation. The results revealed that the younger generation has the motivation, readily available to gain more knowledge and skills to become and raise an environmental generation. These meet the three most important elements of the Environmental Generation Framework, which focus on the younger generation to achieve sustainable development

Community vulnerability assessment index for flood prone savannah agro-ecological zone: A case study of Wa West District, Ghana

The savannah regions of Northern Ghana are characterized by smallholder farming systems and high levels of poverty. Over the past two decades, communities in the regions have become more prone to climate and human-induced disasters in the form of annual floods and droughts. This study evaluates the degree and magnitude of vulnerability in four communities subjected to similar climate change induced flood events and propose intervention options. The study employs rural participatory research approaches in developing four vulnerability categories namely socio-economic, ecological, engineering and political; which were used to develop indicators that aided the calculation of total community vulnerability index for each community. The findings indicate that the state of a community's vulnerability to flood is a composite effect of the four vulnerability index categories which may act independently or concurrently to produce the net effect. Based on a synthesis of total vulnerability obtained in each community, Baleufili was found to be the least vulnerable to flood due to its high scores in engineering, socio-economic and political vulnerability indicators. Baleufili and Bankpama were the most ecologically vulnerable communities. The selection of vulnerability index categories and associated indicators were grounded in specific local peculiarities that evolved out of engagement with community stakeholders and expert knowledge of the socioecological landscape. Thus, the Total Community Vulnerability Assessment Framework (TCVAF) provides an effective decision support for identifying communities’ vulnerability status and help to design both short and long term interventions options that are community specific as a way of enhancing their coping and adaptive capacity to disasters