Department of Geography and Resource Development
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Item Residents’ empowerment for sustainable ecotourism: insights from Ghana(Anatolia, 2021) Eshun, F.; Asiedu, A.B.Ecotourism can be sustainable and contribute to environmental preservation if community members are empowered. However, few studies have investigated the empowerment of community members for sustainable ecotourism, particularly in developing countries. To address this knowledge gap, this study employs a mixed-method approach to investigate the extent of residents’ empowerment in four communities at two eco-tourism destinations in Ghana. The study looked at six aspects of empowerment, which are social, political, psychological, environmental, human, and economic. The findings indicate the need to build the human empowerment of and enacting ecotourism policies to regulate ecotourism practices. The inclusion of human empowerment in the empowerment framework proved useful in analysing the strengths and weaknesses in the delivery of sustainable ecotourism objectives.Item Private cities, land, and the transformation of Africa’s urban fringe(Urban Geography, 2023) Ablo, A.D.This paper explores the effects of large-scale land deals for a private city development project in Ghana—the Appolonia City of Light. From the conceptual lens of accumulation by dispossession, the This article sheds light on the new forms of urban inequalities that arise from this project. It is argued that land acquisition for urban development has exacerbated existing inequalities and transformed the socioeconomic, spatial, and institutional context of the community. The project is beneficial to multinational corporations that accumulate through “sweet land deals” legitimized by the state. At the community level, there is a centralization of wealth among local elites who brokered such deals to make economic and political gains. Conversely, livelihoods dependent on the environment suffer dispossession in various forms. First, the loss of farmlands creates livelihood uncertainties. Second, the commodification of communal land disrupts social relations, land tenure arrangements and exacerbates chieftaincy disputes in the communityItem Harnessing the tenets of health promotion and wise reasoning in managing the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana and similar contexts(African Geographical Review, 2022) Kutor, S.K.; Ablo, A.D.; Annan-Aggrey, E.; et al.The emergence of COVID-19 in December 2019 produced new geographic spaces characterized by physical and social distancing with concomitant surprises. In Ghana, management of the first and second waves of the pandemic garnered mixed reactions from the populace. Against these perspectives, this commentary explored the critical role of health promotion and wise reasoning tenets in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana, specifically through the following eight principles: intellectual humility; acknowledging uncertainty and change; perspective-taking of different viewpoints; integration of diverse perspectives; intersectorality; sustainability; empowerment and public health engagement; and equity. Our analyses demonstrate that wise reasoning and health promotion from Ghana’s political authorities are critical to ensuring citizens’ compliance with the several measures that require a change of behavior.Item Spatial distribution and policy implications of the exhaust emissions of two-stroke motorcycle taxis: a case study of southwestern state in Nigeria(Journal of the Nigerian Society of Physical Sciences, 2024)Two-stroke motorcycles emit harmful exhaust fumes because of incomplete combustion. Although they constitute the main fleet of motorcycle taxis in sub-Saharan Africa, monitoring, spatial assessment, and regulation are weak, leaving dire health consequences in cities. This study collected motorcycle raw exhaust emissions of 1,950 two-stroke petrol-driven motorcycle taxis, otherwise called okada, in Ogun State, Nigeria, using an idle mode test approach under 10 minutes and employed correlations, hierarchical multiple linear regression models, and spatial analysis. It was found that carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC) were the most highly concentrated, and the latter were beyond allowable limits. The concentration of CO was found to be at the minimum of 0.00 % and the highest being at 6.40% (an average of 1.05%), while the HC concentration was reported at the minimum of 18.00 ppm and the highest at 15446 ppm (an average of 3560 ppm). Notably, Kriging interpolation analysis indicated that cumulative effects due to the clustering and operations of motorcycle taxis could increase these concentrations over time, extending their long-term impacts. Given the severe effects of these emissions on health and the wider environment, a DPSIR policy framework is proposed to regulate two-stroke motorcycle taxis in sub-Saharan Africa.Item Probing political paradox: Urban expansion, floods risk vulnerability and social justice in urban Africa(Journal of Urban Affairs, 2022) Moller-Jensen, L.; Yiran, G.A.B.; Oteng-Ababio, M.; et al.Urban managers in sub-Saharan Africa have recently come under intense pressure to prepare for and adapt to the footprints of rapid peri-urbanization and increased climate-related risks. Addressing spatial planning is integral to the urban expansion is not only because climate variability is becoming more prominent. Further, within peri-urban zones, people most often live and work in physical areas of hazard that are commensurate with their economic stability. This highlights the need for adaptation amidst inadequate resources imperative. These concerns find expression at the local level, where stakeholders’ priorities focus on the gap between adaptation needs and existing adaptation efforts. Drawing insights from our study in Accra, which combines the perspectives and experiences of practitioners, academics, and citizens, we show how decisions constructed around flood vulnerabilities and people’s Actions and planning processes are seldom neutral. We infer how prioritizing efforts to adapt to floods may privilege some residents and compromise others’ support, agency, and capacities to recover. We call for increased attention to how city authorities can creatively move urban planning toward more informed, inclusive, and supportive recovery visions in response to the consolidation of urban peripheries and increased climate exacerbated flooding in the quest for social justice for all.Item Female farmers’ struggles and responses to COVID-19 in Ghana(African Geographical Review, 2024) Yaro, J.A.; Essien, R.S.; Ablo, A.D.; Siakwah, P.; Zaam, M.The COVID-19 lockdown measures exacerbated the struggles of societies with existing inequalities. Given that women are generally the most vulnerable in times of pandemics and associated economic downturns, the study seeks to understand the struggles that female farmers experienced during the COVID-19 crisis and their survival responses and livelihood enhancement. To do this, we organized six women’s focus group discussions and interviewed 145 women farmers in communities within Builsa South and Ada (in Ghana) where farming is one of the major occupations for women. The findings reveal that the pandemic severely disrupted women’s access to farm inputs, markets, and farming activities amidst the absence of COVID-19 relief funds. Consequently, female farmers had to adopt multiple alternative livelihood strategies to meet their basic needs. But, the nature of the adaptation strategy adopted depended on the intersections of gender, household characteristics and remittance flows. Female farmers from migrant households with larger household sizes temporarily migrated as an alternative livelihood strategy compared to those from non-migrant households and with smaller family sizes. This distributional consequence of COVID-19 is important for government agencies to carefully consider when forming future response policies to pandemics in general and the rural agricultural sector specifically since it has implications for food securityItem ‘We are at the mercy of the floods!’ : Extreme weather events, disrupted mobilities, and everyday navigation in urban Ghana(Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 2022) Amankwaa, E.F.; Gough, K.V.This paper examines how extreme weather events affect the mobility of low-income urban residents in Ghana. Bringing together scholarship on extreme weather and mobilities, it explores the differential impact of flooding on their everyday lives as they navigate the cities of Accra and Tamale. A range of qualitative methods were drawn on, including semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and follow-along-participant observations in selected communities of both cities. Three key themes emerged: disrupted road and transport infrastructure, everyday mobility challenges, and coping/adaptive strategies. In flooding conditions, residents experienced difficulties leaving/returning home, engaging in income-generating activities, and accessing transport services and other key urban infrastructure. Conceptually, the paper reveals how disruption to urban residents’ daily movements and activities (re)produces new forms of mobilities and immobilities. which have three relational elements: postponed, improvised and assisted. Throughout the analysis, we show how these mobilities and immobilities vary by age and gender. all urban residents, (though women in particular) experience postponed mobility; young people especially engage in improvised mobility, and children and the elderly are in greatest need of assisted mobility. The paper thus contributes to scholarship on extreme weather events and mobility by providing a more spatially nuanced understanding of the multi-faceted domains in which flooding, socio-economic conditions and adaptive strategies intersect to influence urban mobility in resource-poor settings.Item The 2020 Maize Production Failure in Ghana: A Case Study of Ejura-Sekyedumase Municipality(Sustainability, 2022) Obour, P.B.; Arthur, I.K.; Owusu, K.This paper examines the causes of widespread maize production failure in Ghana during the 2020 minor growing season. A mixed-methods approach was used to study smallholder maize farmers in the Ejura-Sekyedumase Municipality to provide a holistic understanding of the factors behind the maize production failure and to inform policy interventions. The results show that the decline in maize grain yield was caused by the failure of the minor season rains and, more importantly, the destruction of maize plants by fall armyworms. Other factors include poor soils and inadequate farm inputs contributed minimally to the observed maize failures. The agronomic practices adopted by the farmers to mitigate crop failures were undermined by their inability to master the onset and cessation of rainfall, the ineffectiveness of pesticides to control the fall armyworms and financial challenges. It is recommended that the government promote and support rainwater harvesting to address the impacts of drought and pests on food crop production. Furthermore, to ensure sustainable For food production, a combination of indigenous knowledge and scientific farm practices are crucial. accurately forecast the weather and control the fall armyworms.Item Mobility Disruptions in Accra: Recurrent Flooding, Fragile Infrastructure and Climate Change(Sustainability, 2022) Andreasen, M.H.; Oteng-Ababio, M.; Yiran, G.A.B.; et al.This paper analyzes the mobility disruptions experienced by urban residents in relation to heavy precipitation and flooding of roads. The empirical focus is Accra, Ghana, a rapidly growing African city with discernible challenges in its transport system and a longstanding history of recurrent flood hazards, which are likely to be exacerbated by climate change in the future. In a context where there is very little mobility data available from official sources; the paper utilizes data from a large mobility survey (n = 1053) conducted through in-person interviews in July–August 2021 in 10 selected neighborhoods in Accra’s sprawling periphery. The survey targeted economically active adults. who are travelling regularly in relation to their income-generating activities. The survey recorded respondents’ experiences with a wide range of mobility disruptions caused by heavy precipitation and water on the roads. The analysis of survey data is supplemented with insights from qualitative interviews with a range of local key informants (n = 75). The research illuminates the diversity of mobility disruptions experienced by Accra’s residents during and after heavy precipitation events and the adverse implications for livelihoods and access to markets and services. The results highlight that mobility disruptions related to heavy precipitation are an extremely commonplace experience for residents in Accra’s periphery, across a diverse collection of neighborhoods and across travel patterns and traveler characteristics. While existing research tends to privilege the most dramatic and disastrous flood events and the associated destruction of property; this research, however, draws attention to the somewhat under-researched topic of mobility disruptions to everyday activities and their implications for livelihoods and access to markets and services.Item Are used face masks handled as infectious waste? Novel pollution driven by the COVID-19 pandemic(Resources, Conservation & Recycling Advances, 2021) Amuah, E.E.Y.; Agyemang, E.P.; Dankwa, P.; et al.The extensive use of face masks has raised concerns about environmental pollution through improper disposal of used face masks after the emergence of COVID-19. The increasing use of PPEs to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has resulted in several environmental hazards, creating a new environmental barrier for solid waste management and worsening plastic pollution. This study aimed at assessing the occurrence and distribution of face masks in a metropolitan area (Adum-Kumasi), municipal area (Ejisu), community (Abenase) and an institution (KNUST) in Ghana. The study showed that a total of 535 face masks were numbered along a stretch of 1,720 m with a density ranging from 0.04 m to 0.42 m. No significant relationship (P = 0.602) was established between the observation distances and the number of waste face masks numbered. The study also showed that for a 1% increase in the number of face masks on working days, there would be a 0.775% increase in non-working days. A review of literature showed that the disposal of used face masks results in the release of micro- and nano-plastics. Pb, Cu, Sb, Zn, Mn, Ti, Fe and Ca into environmental media. Plastic pollution may be a concern to ecosystems due to its persistence in the environment, lack of environmental awareness, sensitization and education, and poor waste management systems. To ensure the sustainable management of waste face masks, significant efforts are needed. These may include proper disposal, redesigning and producing masks from biodegradable materials. incorporating waste face masks into construction materials and recycling PPE by pyrolyzing are suggested options for the effective management of face masks.