Issues arising from changes in waterbird population estimates in coastal Ghana

Abstract

Reported in this paper are waterbird census data collected from four coastal wetlands in Ghana over a period of 16 mo, with extrapolations made to indicate possible changes in population trends and bird distribution in the study area. Results indicated that Ramsar sites continue to play invaluable roles in the support of waterbirds on the coast of Ghana despite the presence of waterbird species on a large number of smaller, unmanaged wetlands. On the other hand, results also indicate that waterbird populations and distributions in Ghana, as reported previously, have changed. The need for conservation action for the waterbird species in Ghana increased with respective dependency on unmanaged wetlands, with 56% of species possibly affected.