Mapping of community perspectives on land acquisition for biofuel investment in northern Ghana
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Date
2024
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Publisher
Land Use Policy
Abstract
We apply Q methodology, a model with a qualitative background, albeit with rigorous quantitative analysis, to
map community perspectives (concerns, attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and perceptions) towards the acquisition of
communal land for a biofuel project in northern Ghana. We extracted four community perspectives, in the order
of importance as follows: (1) pro-biofuel project, but pessimistic (2) against the biofuel project (pro-environ mental) (3) strong against and (4) optimistic. Taken together, the perspectives suggest the local people believe
the biofuel project has no potential to improve their livelihoods, meanwhile, there is a consensus that the project
destroyed trees of economic importance and provided poor working conditions for the local employees. We
recommend (1) the establishment of enforceable economic and social contracts between the employees, local
land users and the biofuel investors (2) direct monetary compensation for the affected communal land users (3)
investigation of allegations of late or partial-payment of salaries of the biofuel project’s employees (4) future
considerations for acquiring communal land should include broad community consultations and incorporate the
local land users’ interests, concerns, and viewpoints and (5) the local bioenergy policy of the government of
Ghana must include checks on communal land sale decisions, which directly or indirectly impact the welfare of
the people.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Biofuel, Community perspectives, Communal land