Ecological status of the Mount Afadjato-Agumatsa range in Ghana after a decade of local community management

Abstract

Over the past few decades, the world community has recognized the need to involve local people in the management of conservation areas (CAs) (Ferraro, 2006). This paradigm shift from the old state‐centred ‘fences and fines’ management to a community‐based management (CBM) approach empowers local people to play much more active roles (Balint, 2006). The underlying principle of the CBM concept is that local people are more inclined to implement any management decisions for which they had provided some input, and given sufficient technical support, they can determine for themselves appropriate conservation solutions (Shackleton et al., 2002). However, the ability of local communities to effectively manage CAs is being debated, despite recent successes. Indeed, available empirical evidence suggests that community‐managed forests are more effective in reducing forests loss than strictly protected areas in the tropics (Africa, Asia, South and North Americas) (Porter‐Bolland et al., 2012).

The different purposes for which CAs are established, and variations in their tenure regimes, socio‐economic and cultural contexts make it difficult to generalize the performance of CAs across regions and warrant evaluation of individual CAs. A number of methods have been developed for assessing the ecological status and management effectiveness of CAs, but currently, there is no globally sanctioned metric because of the aforesaid reasons (Chape et al., 2005). Although remotely sensed data are useful for monitoring trends in forest cover extent, they have rarely been used to evaluate the performance of CAs in Ghana and Africa. Here, we used Landsat images and questionnaires to assess the ecological status of Mount Afadjato–Agumatsa Range (MAAR), a community‐managed conservation area in Ghana. The specific objectives were to assess the changes in forest cover and threat status of the MAAR over the past decade.