Cocoa Plant, People and Profit in Ghana

Cocoa production assumed commercial dimension by the beginning of the nineteenth century in Ghana. Soon after that the country became the world’s leading producer of cocoa. Since then the ecological system of the cocoa plant, people involved in its management and their profit motives have been interwoven. The cocoa plant ecosystem in Ghana has been performing well under variable soil and climatic conditions. In addition, the different cocoa actors have unequal powers which affect sharing of the incentives from the sale of cocoa beans. Hence, sustainability of the cocoa industry in Ghana depends on ethical unity amongst the multi-stakeholders. By using the conceptual 3Ps approach to analysis of sustainability (environment, sociocultural and economic), benefits accruing and problems will become evident to elicit appropriate remedy

Sand Winning and Land Degradation: Perspective of Indigenous Sand Winners of Wa, Ghana

The study investigated the effects of sand winning by combining qualitative methods and descriptive statistics. Key informant interviews, observation, photography plus questionnaire survey targeted 50 sand winners (drivers). The findings revealed that 56% of sand winners have mined sand/gravel for at least five years, 78% do 6-10 trips of sand and 70% make 6-10 trips of gravel daily. About 96% of sand winners employed labourers from Wa and 82% employed 6 labourers per day. About 30% of the sand winners own the vehicle/truck whilst 70% drives on contract basis. Majority of the driver-respondents (52%) disagree with the proposition that sand winning degrade the land. Another 70% argued that sand winning does not make farmers unemployed.  Furthermore, 74% disagree with the view that sand winning causes food shortage. Also, 76% disagree that sand winning increases mosquitoes and malaria cases. However, 84% agree that sand winning is a profitable business. Key words: sand winning, land degradation, farm land, Wa, Ghana

Sustainable Production of Afforestation and Reforestation to Salvage Land Degradation in Asunafo District, Ghana

Savannazation and marshy areas are common features of once evergreen and deciduous forest of Ghana. Attempts to salvage such degraded lands have considered replacement with closed tree canopy. This study aims at examining efforts at Asunafo forest area to use tree planting of different species to remedy land degradation in a swamp area colonized by shrubs and grasses. Study methods include the use of field visits and transect walk, photography, archival data, key informant interview, community meeting and socio-economic survey for sourcing primary data for analysis. The results indicate that where the swamp is vegetated by shrubs of different kinds, afforestation shows rapid success. And, where the swamp is dominated by grass species, afforestation success is slow. Terminalia ivorensis, Triplochiton scleroxylon and Ceiba pentandra registered quick impacts in height growth, stem development, canopy formation where the degraded land was originally covered with shrubs. Trees grow well when weed competition for essential resources is reduced through weed control. The study concludes that tree planting in swamp area is sustainable land management practice to redeem land degradation. Also, environmental benefits are imperatives but host communities derived near to zero social and economic benefits because such projects happen outside clean development mechanisms' arrangement

Exploring the Dynamics of E-waste Disposal Strategies in Tamale, Ghana

Globalised inter-connected world; changing patterns of world standards and norms; and the emergence of consumerism have all drastically shaped the generation and management of e-waste. Cities in developing countries are grappling with developing sustainable strategies to dealing with e-waste and therefore households are compelled to fashion their own disposal strategies. This article examined some of these disposal strategies and the factors that influenced their adoption in Tamale, a growing city in northern Ghana. Data for the study were collected using different techniques including questionnaire survey and key informant interviews. The predominant disposal strategies that emerged were selling e-waste as scrap; donating to other people as gifts; selling as second hand product; disposing with other domestic wastes or combination of any of the strategies. These informal management strategies were influenced by respondents’ age, education level and income. It is recommended that the observed disposal strategies can be articulated in Ghana’s search for definitive e-waste management policies that are environmentally friendly, socially acceptable and economically viable.Keyword: E-waste, Disposal strategy, Ghana, Recycling, Legislation

EXAMINATION OF THE CURRENT STATE OF GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS IN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN WA MUNICIPAL

Building maintenance is a phenomenon that transcends all disciplines over the world and its importance cannot be overemphasized It has become very critical in institution success such that its intervention is indispensable. Public senior high school buildings in Ghana represent significant investment of the tax payers’ money and therefore maintaining these buildings is important. However, there seems to be paucity of studies on the examination of the current state of maintenance of government buildings in senior high schools in general and Wa Municipality in particular. This research seeks to bridge this knowledge gap by examining the current state of maintenance of government buildings in senior high schools in Wa Municipal of the Upper West Region of Ghana. Study methods include the use of questionnaire, interview guides, focus group discussion guide and observation checklist for data analysis. A total of 393 respondents (197 students, 140 teachers and 56 school management) who took part in this study were purposively selected. The study also found out that the current state of all the public senior high school buildings in the Wa Municipality is satisfactory for academic work; albeit poorly maintained with some buildings in a bad state. The study identified that the major defects on some of the school buildings are related to the state of services (students mean = 2.523, teachers mean = 2.321, school management mean = 2.464), fittings and furniture (students mean = 2.457, teachers mean = 2.500, school management mean = 1.982), as well as the finishes and windows (students mean = 2.609, teachers mean = 2.429, school management mean = 1.804). The school buildings which were highly affected were detected to be school dormitories, and teachers’ bungalows; whereas the school administration block and the school laboratory were found to be relatively in good state with reference to the number of defects. The study recommends that there is an urgent need for maintenance works to be carried out on public senior high school buildings in the Wa Municipality and also there should be a conscious effort to include maintenance activities in the budget both at the Assembly level and the school level in the Wa Municipality to ensure regular maintenance of their senior high school buildings. Keywords: Current state, buildings, senior high schools, building maintenance, Wa Municipa

Nexus Between Savannah Woodland Degradation and Climate Change in Northern Ghana

The Savannah woodland and forest ecosystems are considered as fragile ecosystems in Ghana. They are located in pro-poor areas of the country. They serve as livelihood support systems for the poor in those areas. In the midst of climate change, the same woods are expected to provide mitigation support against climate change. These woodland and forest ecosystems are in a state of dilemma: providing adaptation support to humans and at the same time providing mitigation support against climate change in the midst of climatic and seasonal challenges: low rainfall, excessive heat, harmattan and annual bushfires. The sustainability of these ecosystems depends on the net effect resulting from the pressures of adaptation, efforts of mitigation, resilience of the ecosystems and other natural support systems. This chapter explores the relationship among woodland, adaptation and mitigation activities. In this relationship, the human face has played a central role, thus influencing the direction of the net effects of the pressures on woodland ecosystems. Adaptation is over-emphasised, misunderstood and decoupled from mitigation resulting in maladaptation. This has contributed to the worsening impacts of climate change. Climate change adaptation needs to be re-emphasised to ensure mitigation is considered in every adaptation measure

Temporal analysis of the state of the Gbele Resource Reserve in the Upper West Region, Ghana

IntroductionThis paper assessed the changes in the forest cover of the Gbele Resource Reserve from 1990 to 2020. This provides a basis for strengthening management decisions to protect the resources in the Gbele Resource Reserve effectively.MethodsLandsat images for 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020 were obtained from the United States Geological Service site. They were processed and classified in the System for Earth Observation Data Access, Processing, & Analysis for Land Monitoring (SEPAL), a web-based cloud computing platform. The accuracy of the images was assessed using 50 ground-truth points obtained from the 3-5 meter spatial and near-daily temporal resolution planet satellite images from Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI). Post classification change detection was used to analyse the changes in land cover from 1990 to 2000, 2000 to 2010 and from 2010 to 2020.ResultsThe analysis revealed that the total forest area was 55273.2 ha. In 1990, 74.9 % of the reserve was open forest and 24.6 % was shrubs/grass. The open forest declined to 65.8 % in 2000 and further to 62.4 % in 2010 while the shrubs/grass cover increased to 35.7 in 2010. As of 2020, the forest increased to 73.6 % while the shrub/grass cover declined to 25.8 %.DiscussionThese changes could be attributed partly to widespread charcoal production in the fringe districts and rose wood harvesting in the early 2000s. charcoal production and rosewood logging have been livelihood sources for fringe communities. The ban on the harvest and exportation of rosewood after 2010 could partly explain the sharp increase in the open forest cover from 2010 to 2020. The changes in the extent of the reserve from 1990 to 2020 revealed that the reserve can vulnerable to excessive exploitation and can also be resilient if deliberate efforts are made to protect it. It is recommended that the fringe district and municipal Assemblies should strengthen the enforcement of the ban on the logging of the rosewood and trees in the reserve for the production of charcoal

Degradation of Forest Reserves in Asunafo Forest District, Ghana

Forest reserve degradation is a global concern because it is a storage facility of global biodiversity. In addition, forest reserves contain the wealth of several poor countries, particularly in Africa. Such is the situation in Ghana, which possesses portions of the tropical African rainforest. The timber species thereof has been harvested to create wealth since the 1800s. The wealth of the soils for cocoa production was realised in the first decade of the nineteenth century in Asunafo. Hence, the desire to reserve portions of the forest as protected areas began in 1910. Therefore, the aim of this study is an investigation of the degradation of the forest reserves of Asunafo. The methods of the study include a survey of farmers, key informant interviews, community meetings, and transect drives. The results reveal a progressive increase in the human population, expansion of settlements, and a drastic reduction in the forest reserves by –24.59%. The timber industry, cocoa farming, and population increase have caused forest reserve degradation, a loss of wildlife habitats, an out-migration of elephants, buffalos, and chimpanzees, a loss of plant biodiversity, and an invasion by weeds. The Government of Ghana should increase efforts to halt forest reserve degradation

Gain and Loss of Forest Cover in Ghana’s Forest Reserves in Three Selected National Parks

Forests play an important role in the ecological, environmental, socio-economic and cultural lives of people. However, human-nature-forest interactions bring imbalances in the state of these resources, hence the need to monitor and manage the forest proactively. This chapter, therefore, assessed the gains and losses of three national parks in Ghana (including Mole, Digya and Kakum) for the period 1986 and 2020. Landsat TM and Landsat8 OLI images were used for the assessment. The Digya National Park has a spatial extent of 4121.89 km2. In 1986, the extent of the close forest cover was 88.0% of the park and it declined to 82.8% in 2020, a loss of 6.2%. The Kakum National Park covers an area of 463.42 km2. The close forest cover was 90.15% and 89.52% of the extent of the park in 1986 and 2020, respectively. The Mole National Park covers about 4602.19 km2. In 1986, 86.73% of the park was open forest, which was reduced to 80.83%, a loss of 5.90%. The study revealed 67% of open forest degradation, 33% loss of close forest and a reported ritual bushfire, wood harvesting and lumbering as the unsustainable practices. Reclamation of degraded areas is recommended to the Forestry Commission

STAKEHOLDERS RESPONSIBILITIES IN PUBLIC SHS BUILDINGS MAINTENANCE PRACTICES IN THE WA MUNICIPALITY

Public senior high school buildings in Ghana represent significant investment of the tax payers’ money and therefore maintaining these buildings is important. However, there seems to be paucity of studies on stakeholders’ responsibilities in public senior high schools’ buildings maintenance practices in general and Wa Municipality in particular. This research seeks to bridge this knowledge gap by evaluating stakeholders’ responsibilities in public senior high schools’ buildings maintenance practices in the Wa Municipality of the Upper West Region of Ghana. Study methods include the use of questionnaire, interview guides, focus group discussion guide and observation checklist for data analysis. A total of 393 respondents (197 students, 140 teachers and 56 school management) who took part in this study were purposively selected. The study found out that the major stakeholders involved in the maintenance and repairs of the public senior school buildings in the Wa Municipality have not perform their roles creditably. The implication is that maintenance activities at the public senior high schools have not been efficient and effective as stakeholders failed to achieve maintenance aims. The study recommends that, there is the need for all stakeholders in the Wa Municipality such as the governments, professionals which include contractors, engineers, architects, facility managers, etc. others include the teaching and non-teaching staff, PTA, students, GES, municipal department of maintenance, school management and Others like NGO’s, Media and Olds tudents Association to be responsible in their roles and functions on maintenance of public buildings so as to protect government buildings as well as ensuring resource management.