Browsing by Author "Loh, S.K."
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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 Land Use and Landscape Structural Changes in the Ecoregions of Ghana(Journal of Disaster Research, 2014) Antwi, E.K.; Boakye-Danquah, j; Asabere, S.B.; Yiran, G.A.B.; Loh, S.K.; Awere, K.G.; Abagale, F.K.; Asubonteng, K.O.; Attua, E.M.; Owusu, A.B.In recent years, land use (LU) and landscape structure in ecoregions around the world have been faced with enormous pressures, from rapid population growth to urban sprawl. A preliminary account of changes in land cover (LC) and landscape structure in the ecoregions of Ghana is missing from the academic and research literature. The study therefore provides a preliminary assessment of the changing LU and landscape structure in the ecoregions of Ghana, identifying the causes and assessing their impact on land-based resources, and on urban and agricultural development. LU/LC maps produced from 30 m resolution Landsat TM5 in 1990 and ETM+ in 2000 were classified into dominant land cover types (LCTs) and used to survey the changing landscape of Ghana. LC-changemap preparation was done with change detection extension “Ver¨anderung” (v3) in an ArcGIS 10.1 environment. At the class level, Patch Analyst version 5.1 was used to calculate land use (LU) statistics and to provide landscape metrics for LU maps extracted from the satellite imagery. The results showed that commonly observed LCCs in the ecoregions of Ghana include conversion of natural forest land to various forms of cultivated lands, settlements, and open land, particularly in closed and open forest and savannah woodland. The dominant LU types in the ecoregions of Ghana are arable lands, which increased by 6168.98 km2. Forest and plantation LCTs decreased in area and were replaced by agricultural land, forest garden, and open land. Afforestation rarely occurred except in the rainforests. The mean patch size (MPS), ameasure of fragmentation, was generally reduced consistently from 1990 to 2000 in all the ecoregions. Similar results that indicated increased fragmentation were an increased number of patches (NumP) and the Shannon diversity index (SDI). Habitat shape complexity inferred ecoregions except for rainforest and wet evergreen. The SDI and Shannon evenness index (SEI) showed that habitat diversity was highest in the coastal savannah and the deciduous forest ecoregions. The main drivers of changes in the LUs and landscape structure are demand for land and land-based natural resources to support competing livelihoods and developmental activities in the different ecoregions.