Browsing by Author "Boafo, Y.A."
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Item Community vulnerability assessment index for flood prone savannah agro-ecological zone: A case study of Wa West District, Ghana(ScienceDirect (WeatherandClimateExtremes), 2015-10-31) Antwi, E.K.; Boakye-Danquah, J.; Owusu, A.B.; Loh, S.K.; Mensah, R.; Boafo, Y.A.; Apronti, P.T.The savannah regions of Northern Ghana are characterized by small holder 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; whichwereusedtodevelopindicatorsthataidedthecalculationoftotalcommunityvulner-ability 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. These lections 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 socio ecological land scape. 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.Item Developing a Community-Based Resilience Assessment Model with reference to Northern Ghana(Journal of Integrated Disaster Risk Management, 2014) Antwi, E.K.; Otsuki, K.; Saito, O.; Obeng, F.K.; Gyekye, K.A.; Boakye-Danquah, J; Boafo, Y.A.; Kusakari, Y.; Yiran, G.A.B.; Owusu, A.B.; Asubonteng, K.O.; Dzivenu, T.; Avornyo, V.K.; Abagale, F.K.; Jasaw, G.S.; Lolig, V.; Ganiyu, S.; Donkoh, S.A.; Yeboah, R.; Kranjac-Berisavljevic, G.; Gyasi, E.A.; Minia, Z.; Ayuk, E.T.; Matsuda, H.; Ishikawa, H.; Ito, O.; Takeuchi, K.Faced with adversarial climatic and physical conditions and an inept socioeconomic development priorities, Northern Ghana remains one of the regions that are most vulnerable to climate-related shocks and disturbances in semi-arid Africa. Because of the effect of frequent floods, droughts, and bushfires, entire livelihoods in Ghana’s predominantly smallholder agricultural population are under threat. In this paper, we present a model for community-based resilience assessment. This model was developed through an experiment conducted in selected rural communities in the Tolon and Wa West Districts in the Northern and Upper West Regions of Ghana. This experiment underpinned an ongoing five-year collaborative research project, Climate and Ecosystem Change Adaptation and Resilience Research in Semi-Arid Africa: An Integrated Approach (CECAR-Africa), and involved researchers and scientists from institutions in Ghana and Japan. Drawing on the findings from extensive literature review, field surveys, focus group discussions, unstructured interviews with various stakeholders, and participatory observations, we developed a matrix for assessing the different categories of community resilience (ecological, engineering, and socioeconomic). The outcome of this resilience matrix, herein called an “integrated” assessment model, offers a mix of factors that could improve societal reorganization when faced with shocks or disturbances. The integrated model provides a workable assessment criteria and key indicators for community level resilience assessments. This experiment proved valuable and highly effective in selecting case study communities for CECAR-Africa. The next step will involve the testing and development of similar criteria and indicators to measure household level resilience.Item Effect of climate change on cerebrospinal meningitis morbidities and mortalities: A longitudinal and community-based study in Ghana(PLOS Climate, 2022) Akanwake, J.B.; Atinga, R.A.; Boafo, Y.A.Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) is one of the climate-sensitive diseases affected by global climate change. Its causal agent, Neisseria meningitidis bacterial, thrives well in warm environments. CSM epidemics are likely to be exacerbated by the warming globe emanating from climate change. Yet studies have rarely examined the association between climat’e change and CSM. Moreover, studies drawing on quantitative and qualitative data to understand the pathways of climate change domains and CSM relationships as well as community perspectives of CSM are rare. This study deployed mixed-method research to analyse community perceptions of and the relationship between climate change and CSM. We collected 96 months of data on changes in metrological weather parameters (temperatures, sunshine, relative and absolute humidity, and rainfall) and CSM cases and mortalities recorded between 2012 and 2019. Community-level data were elicited using a semi-structured questionnaire. The results showed a statistically significant relationship between climate variables and CSM. High temperatures and sunshine, low rainfall, low relative and absolute humidity were significantly associated with CSM outbreaks. Community participants demonstrated fair knowledge about CSM and attributed its outbreak to climate change. The respondents asserted that the symptoms of CSM, such as severe headache, high fever, stiff neck and waist pains, among others, are often prevalent in their communities when there is high temperature, low relative and absolute humidity, excessive sunshine and dusty winds (harmattan winds). They also revealed that poor environmental sanitation, poor room ventilation, overcrowding in a room, and social integration such as festivals, markets, and religious activities, among others, can exacerbate the outbreak of CSM. We recommend awareness campaign in the communities on the need to ensure proper ventilation in their homes and workplaces, keep their surroundings clean and preserve the econ-system to reduce high temperatures.Item Impacts of Ghana’s Bui dam hydroelectricity project on the livelihood of downstream non-resettled communities(Springer Tokyo, 2018-06) Owusu, K.; Asiedu, A.B.; Yankson, P.W.K.; Boafo, Y.A.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. © 2018 Springer Japan KK, part of Springer NatureItem Projected temperature increases over northern Ghana(SN Applied Sciences, 2020) Klutse, N.A.B.; Owusu, K.; Boafo, Y.A.This study reports on projected temperature increases and their likely implication on smallholder farming systems across the northern regions of Ghana. Aggregated climate data from 1961 to 2000 show that the mean annual temperature across Ghana rose by 1.0 ℃, with the greatest rate of change in the northern–eastern part of the country. For the development of the downscaled climate projection, fve regional climate models (RCMs) forced with three global climate models (GCMs) were used from CORDEX and CMIP5, respectively. Eight stations spatially spread across the study locations were selected for the study based on the quality and completeness of data. The study used daily, minimum and maximum temperature station data from 1980 to 2014 obtained from the Ghana Meteorological Agency. The downscaling was done for the emission scenarios pathways—Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 2.6 and 8.5—from the selected RCMs using the station data. Time series of minimum and maximum temperatures averaged for the eight stations was analysed from 1961 to 2080. Results indicate temperatures are likely to increase over northern Ghana with minimum air temperature increasing by 0.5 °C under RCP 2.6 and 2.5 °C under RCP 8.5. Maximum air temperatures are likely to increase by 1 °C under RCP 2.6 and 2 °C under RCP 8.5 by the year 2080. Warming rates per year for the stations reveal that minimum temperatures are warming faster than maximum temperatures. The 99th percentile, which is a measure of heat waves, shows a close relationship between the minimum temperatures for the RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5 pathways in all the stations except for Wenchi and Bolgatanga. Each pathway has a variation between 22.5 °C and 30 °C. The lowest projected value of the 99th percentile maximum temperature is 35 °C in Wenchi, and the highest projected is above 43 °C in Navrongo. Smallholder food crop farming systems are likely to be negatively impacted, with direct risks of low crop yield unless measures like irrigation and careful crop selection are implemented