Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Climatic changes – Ghana'

This study will examine the impacts of climate change on food security in Southern Ghana. Southern Ghana reveals that the district suffers post- harvest losses of about 8 percent of all cereals which hinders Ghana’s food security. Ghana still faces food insecurity due to high temperatures and low rainfall. This research therefore seeks to investigate what local communities of Southern Ghana are doing to address food insecurity problems with the advent of climate change. Several objectives to achieve this goal involves to identify factors hindering food security in Southern Ghana and to evaluate the extent that climate change has affected food security. A qualitative research approach was used by the researcher to come up with community strategies which this research seeks to address. Various conclusions such as community demand for support from the local government, sustainable irrigation programs, availability of pipe-borne water and environmental education were put in place, as possible solutions to the persisting food security problems in Southern Ghana.

This study examines the relationship between climate impacts and existing vulnerabilities amongst coastal dwellers in Ghana. The study analyses how social relations of power affects access to resources and decision making and their implications for vulnerability and adaptive capacity under changing climatic conditions. It also examines the role that policy plays in addressing vulnerabilities to climate impacts in the study communities. Using a perspective that is important but often overlooked in the study of vulnerability and adaptation to climate impacts in Ghana, the thesis examines the root causes i.e. the structural and relational drivers of vulnerability and the extent to which adaptation policies address these root causes. This thesis contributes to the ongoing debate on the politics of adaptation, the need for adaptation policies to address the underlying causes of vulnerability specifically the social relations of power that produce inequalities. A qualitative mixed-methods approach consisting of participatory tools, focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews were used in collecting data at the household, community and institutional level. Results from the study show that existing vulnerabilities created from development trajectories pursued in the past interact with climatic impacts to further exacerbate vulnerabilities and decrease adaptive capacities of households in the study communities. It also shows that unequal social relations of power drive differential vulnerability patterns among households in the study communities. The results show that the access profile of a household influences the strategies used in responding to climatic impacts. Also, climate change related adaptation policies by government and other actors do not adequately address the underlying causes of vulnerability consequently perpetuating vulnerabilities and reducing the adaptive capacities of households in the study communities. The study concludes that for adaptation policies to be more effective they need to address the underlying causes of vulnerability or the existing inequalities that reproduce and sustain vulnerability to climate impacts and which undermine adaptive capacities.

This dissertation makes use of theoretical frameworks drawn from development theory, ecofeminism, climate science, environmental and distributive justice, and human rights to provide gender analysis of climate policy, including climate finance.The problem addressed is that climate impacts are exacerbating food insecurity that is women's responsibility in the global South. First, I use literature in climate science to detail the impacts of climate change on agriculture in Africa and show how this exacerbates women's poverty that is driven already by persistent socioeconomic inequalities and gender bias. I conclude that women as food producers are especially vulnerable to climate impacts on food security. Next, I assess international climate policy through gender analysis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) against other United Nations (UN) gender policies, followed by gender assessment of Ghanaian climate policy. I conclude that both international and Ghanaian policy fail adequately to address gender and women's needs, despite making advances on gender-inclusion and gender-sensitivity since the turn of the century. I then present a case study in climate finance by evaluating the capacity of an Adaptation Fund Project (AFP) in northeast Ghana to meet women farmers' needs. I gather data from Project implementers and intended beneficiaries, i.e. women in village communities, using interviews and focus group discussions. I conclude that the Project is not successful in engaging women and identify reasons for this failure, including slow distribution of funds to implementers, petty corruption, and community gender biases. In the final chapter, I summarize my findings and make recommendations for policy interventions better to meet women's climate adaptation needs in order to maintain food security and avert the humanitarian crises in hunger that are already well underway in Africa.

The policy of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) has been promoted at the global level as an innovative approach to reduce forest loss that contributes to about one-fifth of global climate change. My dissertation brings together theories of policy processes and political ecology to examine REDD+ at three levels: global, national and local. It focuses on how this global climate policy is translated from one geographical scale to another and from policy into practice. The analysis of how REDD+ is transformed through this process provides insights into the extent to which REDD+ is likely to achieve its aims of reducing forest loss and mitigating global climate change. The national and local cases are drawn from Ghana, West Africa. The study is mainly qualitative, and employs semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, oral histories, participatory activities, and document analysis, as methodologies. At the global scale, I explore how REDD+ became a global climate policy and the range of global expectations that supported its rise to prominence. I argue that REDD+ became prominent because of three main strategies employed by its proponents: first, the re-introduction of the role of forest-sector emissions to climate change negotiations; second, the setting-up of financial schemes to attract and mobilise support for REDD+; and third, the establishment of safeguards mechanisms to address criticisms raised by stakeholders that opposed REDD+. At the national level, I examine how the policy processes related to REDD+ were translated from the global scale to the national context of Ghana. I critically examine the narratives around how deforestation was understood and the range of actions that were subsequently identified as options for achieving REDD+ outcomes. I show that REDD+ has created opportunities for promising reforms and structures on forest management in Ghana; yet it is unlikely to achieve its intended objectives because of (i) problems with the way the narrative has framed the causes of deforestation; (ii) a failure to fully address long-standing problems with tenure and benefit-sharing frameworks; and (iii) the centralisation of revenue generation that is limiting local-level implementation of plans. At the local levels, I focus on how two REDD+ pilot projects were unfolding. Similar to the national level, my analysis reveals that the projects have employed questionable narratives about the ways deforestation is produced in both cases. In addition, the solutions designed to address deforestation were found to contain misplaced assumptions that undermine the prospects of both projects to achieve their intended objectives. The research highlights the messy processes of translation of global climate policies such as REDD+ as they move from one scale to another, and from policy to practice. The study contributes to understanding how problematic narratives, misguided assumptions, and diverse interests, create gaps between the policy ideas and their implementation as global climate policy is translated from one geographical scale to another.

Floods, earthquakes, storms and other natural disasters wreak havoc across the globe each year. Climate change threatens to aggravate the problem. Insurance can be one way to make societies more resilient these disasters; by spreading risks over time and space, insurance softens the blows of natural disasters, helps victims to recover quickly, and incentivises risk reduction. In many developing countries, however, many homeowners lack the security insurance provides; instead, they depend on disaster aid in the event of a catastrophe, which is often unreliable. To improve access to (disaster) insurance in developing countries, global political leaders have initiated several programmes, such as the G7 InsuResilience Initiative. Evidence, however, shows that even where disaster insurance is widely accessible, only a few individuals purchase it, implying that the low adoption of disaster insurance in developing countries goes beyond accessibility. Understanding the causes of the low demand for the existing insurance schemes would inform the design of future ones. This thesis, therefore, examines why homeowners in Ghana fail to purchase disaster insurance for their homes despite the availability of disaster insurance for residential homes since the 1960s. What explanations does the literature provide for the lack of disaster insurance adoption? How does the lack of comprehensive data on natural hazards affect Ghanaian insurers’ natural disaster insurance underwriting decisions? Are individuals who believe that luck, chance, fate, or powerful others determine what happens to them less likely to purchase natural disaster insurance, compared with those who believe that they can influence what happens to them? The thesis addresses these questions in three peer-reviewed articles, specifying how the decisions of insurers, individuals and governments affect disaster insurance adoption in Ghana. The thesis contributes to the literature by first systematically surveying the economics, insurance and psychology literature to understand the alternative economic and behavioural explanations for the lack of demand for disaster insurance, especially in developing countries. The thesis also shows that contrary to standard insurance theory, Ghanaian insurers do not reward investments in preventive measures with lower premia and rather charge higher premia since they lack information about risks at the micro level and therefore interpret risk reduction measures as a sign of high risk. The third significant contribution of the thesis is that individuals’ worldviews influence their disaster insurance purchasing decisions. Based on Ghanaian survey data, the thesis finds individuals who believe they control their own destiny more likely to purchase disaster insurance, compared with those who believe that external forces, luck or fate determines life events
Überschwemmungen, Erdbeben, Stürme oder andere Naturkatastrophen richten rund um den Globus jedes Jahr verheerende Schäden an. Der Klimawandel droht, die Probleme noch zu verschärfen. Versicherungen können ein Weg sein, um Gesellschaften widerstandsfähiger gegen Naturkatastrophen zu machen. Versicherungen lindern die Auswirkung von Naturkatastrophen, indem sie die Risiken über Zeit und Raum verteilen. Sie helfen Betroffenen, um wirtschaftlich wieder auf die Beine zu kommen, und bieten Anreize zum Abbau von Risiken. Trotzdem schließen die meisten Hausbesitzer in Entwicklungsländern kaum Versicherungen ab. Stattdessen sind sie im Katastrophenfall abhängig von Beihilfen, welche jedoch oft nur unzuverlässig fließen. Um den Zugang zu Versicherungen gegen Katastrophen in Entwicklungsländern zu erleichtern, wurden weltweit verschiedene Programme aufgelegt, so etwa die G7-Initiative InsuResilience. Gerade in Entwicklungsländern versichern sich trotz verbesserter Zugänglichkeit nur wenige Menschen gegen Katastrophen. Damit scheint die unzureichende Versicherung gegen Katastrophen in Entwicklungsländern nicht allein eine Frage der Zugänglichkeit zu sein. Die Gründe für die geringe Nachfrage nach existierenden Versicherungen zu verstehen, könnte helfen, das Design neuer, effektiverer Versicherungsangebote zu beeinflussen. Aus diesem Grund untersucht die Arbeit, warum sich Hausbesitzer in Ghana kaum gegen Katastrophen versichern, obwohl es entsprechende Angebote seit den 1960er Jahren gibt. Welche Erklärungen bietet die Literatur für die mangelnde Annahme entsprechender Versicherungen? Wie werden Ghanaische Versicherungsnehmer in ihrer Entscheidung über den Versicherungsabschluss vom Fehlen umfangreicher Daten über die Auswirkungen von Naturkatastrophen beeinflusst? Sind Menschen, die an persönliches Glück, an Chancen, an Schicksal oder an äußere, lebensbeeinflussende Mächte glauben, weniger geneigt, sich gegen Katastrophen zu versichern als Menschen, die glauben, sie könnten ihr Leben selbst beeinflussen? Die Dissertation setzt sich in drei Artikeln mit diesen Fragen auseinander und geht darauf ein, was in Ghana die Akzeptanz von Versicherungen gegen Katastrophen beeinflusst. Ein Beitrag der Arbeit besteht in der systematischen Aufbereitung der wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen, versicherungswissenschaftlichen und psychologischen Literatur, um – speziell in Bezug auf Entwicklungsländer – alternative wirtschafts- und verhaltenswissenschaftliche Erklärungsansätze für das Fehlen einer Nachfrage nach Versicherungen gegen Katastrophen zu verstehen. Die Arbeit zeigt außerdem, dass Ghanaische Versicherungen – im Gegensatz zur gängigen Versicherungstheorie – Investitionen der Versicherungsnehmer in Präventionsmaßnahmen nicht durch niedrigere Prämien honorieren. Weil den Versicherungen Informationen über Risiken auf Mikroebene fehlen, interpretieren sie solche Maßnahmen als Zeichen für ein erhöhtes Risiko und verlangen sogar höhere Prämien. Ein dritter Beitrag der Arbeit untersucht – anhand von Ghanaischen Befragungsdaten – die Hypothese, dass die fundamentale Weltanschauungen die Entscheidung über den Abschluss einer Versicherung gegen Katastrophen beeinflusst werden. Menschen, die glauben, sie könnten ihr Schicksal selbst bestimmen, versichern sich eher gegen Katastrophen als Menschen die glauben, ihr Leben würde durch äußere Mächte, Glück oder das Schicksal bestimmt

Coastal indigenous communities in Keta, Ghana, are experiencing resettlement as a result of slow-onset, climate-induced flooding and erosion. Previous researchers have documented the risk of relocation from rapid-onset events, but little is known about the effectiveness of policies developed in response to slow-onset changes. This phenomenological study investigated the ongoing lived experiences of adult household members in Keta who were relocated by the government. Jun's critical theory provided a constructionist interpretive framework to determine whether Ghana's national policy on climate change resettlement adequately meets Rawls's criteria for distributive social justice. Policy documents and transcriptions of interviews with a purposeful sample of 17 family members were thematically coded and categorized into essence descriptions. Results revealed aligned perceptions of an absence of justice or fairness in the allocation of resources to households relocated by the government. Negative experiences characterized all families' resettlement processes. The government's commitment to ensuring basic community welfare was perceived to be poor. Findings highlight the need for social justice to be the primary policy consideration for future allocation of benefits to resettled households. To avoid reaching a tipping point at which prompt governmental intervention will be either compelled or impossible, quantitative studies are needed to guide policymakers in considering the real costs of relocation and the cumulative effects on families and communities. This study provides evidence for public consideration of the severe consequences of injustice in relocation and the need to prevent human rights abuse in the formulation of social, economic, and cultural policies associated with climate-induced resettlement.

Master of Science
Department of Agricultural Economics
Andrew Barkley
This study examines the effect of extreme climatic conditions (drought, flood, and bushfires) on the livelihood of households in the Bawku West district of Ghana. The research identified the mechanisms with which households cope in such situations, and analyzed factors influencing the adoption of coping strategies for flood, coping strategies for drought, and coping strategies for bushfires. Data for the study were collected in selected villages across the district in the aftermath of the 2007/2008 extreme climatic events (a prolonged drought period followed by an erratic rainfall). A binary logit regression (BLR) model was then specified to estimate factors that influence the adoption of a given coping mechanisms. Results from the BLR model indicate that literacy level, membership with an FBO, household income, and location of households had positive and significant impacts on adaptation to drought. Similarly, source of seeds for planting, membership with an FBO, household income, and farm size had positive significant influence on adaptation to flood. Adaption to bushfire was positively influenced by radio ownership, seed source and income. The main effect of these climatic extreme events on households included destruction of crops, livestock and buildings; food and water shortage; poor yield or harvest and limited fields for livestock grazing. Therefore, government policies should be geared towards creating revenue generating channels and in strengthening institutions that provide access to farm credit, readily available improve seeds and extension. Additionally, policies that expedite information dissemination through radio and other public media will enhance households’ adaptive capacity.

The 'Africa Rising' narrative, which has gained popularity since the late 2000s, refers to the considerable economic and social gains that have been made across the continent since the start of the new millennium. Heralded as more than just GDP growth and poverty reduction, supporters of the 'Africa Rising' narrative also make reference to structural change, macroeconomic improvements and a growing middle class among sub-Saharan African countries. However, there are many who dispute these claims, arguing instead that recent economic growth has not been inclusive and sustainable, and many challenges still exist. This dissertation takes the case study of Ghana as a lens through which to explore the arguments in more detail and determine whether robust, reliable evidence exists to support the claims that Ghana is 'rising', both economically and socially. Using the headings of poverty, economic growth, and employment and equality, socioeconomic data collected from Ghana from the year 2000 onwards was analysed to assess the evidence behind the claims and counter-claims made. Despite significant data limitations, the findings present a mixed picture of Ghana's recent economic growth and development, with substantial progress made in poverty reduction, economic growth and income per capita, but considerable challenges remaining in terms of the current macroeconomic crisis, high youth unemployment and rising income inequality. Ghana's current development pathway, based primarily on commodities and oil revenues, is likely to be unsustainable in the long-term, and the slow rate of structural change, especially in manufacturing, means that growth so far has not been sufficiently inclusive or equitable to benefit the majority of the population. Within the broader context of the 'Africa Rising' narrative, the study also brought to light two important considerations: firstly, that significant data limitations exist within national statistics, making it necessary for claims to be investigated thoroughly; and secondly, that it is important to examine the case of individual countries such as Ghana before painting a whole continent with the same brush.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS)
Agriculture in Ghana is dominated by smallholder farmers who are faced with unpredictable rainfall and extreme weather events. Climate modelling forecasts that the rate at which precipitation will decrease in the country is far more than the rate at which it will increase during the wet season. It is predicted that rain-fed maize output will decrease below 25 percent in all the ten regions of the country by 2020 if nothing is done. To mitigate the effect of climate change and safeguard food security, the country must undertake measures to adapt to the changing climate. The process of adaptation, therefore, involves the interdependence of agents through their relation with each other. This includes the institution in which the agents reside and the resource based on which they depend. The resource embedded in such relationship has been termed social capital. Empirical studies on social capital and climate change adaptation is lacking, especially in Ghana. Based on this, the study assesses the influence of social capital on climate change adaptation strategies among smallholder farmers in the Central region of Ghana. Both primary and secondary data were used for the study. Primary data was collected using household questionnaires, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. K-means cluster analysis was used to identify weak and strong ties and four individual social capital variables. Twenty-year maize and rainfall data were analysed using trend analysis. The influence of individual social capital and other controlled variables were analysed using Multinomial logit model. Using 225 sampled households the results of the study showed that all the four identified individual social capital variables differ by sex. The perceptions of climate change among smallholder farmers also differ significantly by location. The four individual social capital variables as well as other controlled variables influence at least one indigenous adaptation strategy and one introduced adaptation strategy. The study recommends, among others, that transfer of climate change adaptation techniques or technology to smallholder farmers should not be solely accomplished through the usual technology transfer network of agricultural researchers and extension agents. Rather, it will be imperative to increased contact with a wide variety of local actors who provide information and resources for agricultural production.

Climate change poses a threat to agriculture. Ghana’s agriculture is mainly dependent on rainfall, this makes subsistence farmers majority of whom are women more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. That said, the impacts of climate change are felt differently by men and women due to their social assigned roles and responsibilities. This study examined the dimensions along which gender matters in adaptation strategies.The study used a case study approach, the Ejisu municipality in Ghana was selected for the study. To understand the gender narratives and how this affects adaptation strategies 10 farmers, and 2 agriculture extension officers were sampled. An inductive approach was used to analyze the core themes that emerged from the data.The findings of the study show that smallholder farmers in Ejisu municipality are changing their agricultural practices due to the changes in climatic conditions. Female farmers were seen to be less adaptive due to gender norms and challenges with access to productive resources. The common adaptative measures used by both male and female farmers are crop rotation, mixed farming, use of agrochemicals, organic fertilizers, leaving land fallow, delayed planting, and conservative agriculture.The study findings further show there are complexities in gender dimensions in the agricultural process and this affects adaptation strategies. The study recommends raising public awareness on climate change by providing adequate support to train farmers on sustainable adaptation, strengthening institutional capacity to ensure gender-responsive initiatives in agriculture, and create equitable access to resources to enhance adaptive capacities.

Sustainable, effective and affordable access to energy plays a significant role when it comes to improving people's living conditions, and supporting human and economic development. Therefore, the access and availability of electricity is an important factor and indicator of how well developed a country is. Furthermore, the generation of electricity is often strongly interlinked with other sectors such as climate, land use, and water. All these resources’ systems can have a certain effect on the energy production and vice versa. It is therefore a complex sector, and it needs to be developed with these interlinkages in mind. The aim of this project is to study and analyze the future electricity system in Ghana and its linkages to climate change and water resources. In this project, the modelling tools focus to optimize the electricity generation in consideration of economic values, as well as analyzing climate change and its impact on electricity generation by hydropower. To make a projection of the electricity system in Ghana, two modelling tools were used in the study, OSeMOSYS and ONSSET. The results generated by the models give an indication of potential optimal generation mixes between 2015 and 2050, for the different set of considerations on which the scenarios were built. The projected electricity generation consists of a combination of both renewable energy technologies and fossil fuel dependent technologies. The contribution from concentrated solar power (CSP) stands for the largest share of the mix in the long term. The results also suggest that climate change most certainly will have an impact on the electricity production in Ghana, due to its effect on the performance of hydropower production. This is an indication that Ghana’s reliance on hydropower for its electricity production, could not be sustainable and reliable in the long term. Ghana is an unequally developed country and there are still many undeveloped regions with poor access to electricity, especially in the northern parts of the country. There is also a rising demand of water and land for agricultural use. Since these resources also are important for the sustainable production of electricity, further and more detailed investigation of the conflicts between these sectors is necessary for a sound and compatible sectoral development and sustainable management of resources.
Hållbar, effektiv och prisvärd tillgång till energi och elektricitet är en viktig del i att förbättra människors livsvillkor och för stödja mänsklig och ekonomisk utveckling. Tillgången till elektricitet är på grund avdetta en viktig indikator på hur väl utvecklat ett land är. Vidare är produktionen av elektricitet stark sammankopplad med andra sektorer såsom klimatet, landanvändning och vatten, då alla dessa resurser påverkar energiproduktionen och vice versa. Energisektorn är därför mycket komplex och utvecklingenav den kräver att dessa kopplingar till andra sektorer respekteras. Syftet med det här projektet är att studera och analysera det framtida elsystemet i Ghana samt desskopplingar till klimat och vatten. Projektets fokus är att optimera elproduktionen utifrån kostnad och attanalysera klimatförändringarnas påverkan på elproduktionen från vattenkraft. För att kunna skapa en modell över Ghanas elsystem i framtiden användes två modelleringsverktyg iprojektet, OSeMOSYS och ONSSET. Dessa genererade ett resultat av den optimala fördelningen av produktionstekniker inom elproduktionen under åren 2015 till 2050. Resultatet visar att den mest kostnadsoptimala elproduktion består utav en blandning av förnyelsebar och fossilberoende el. Den största delen av produktionen under den senaste delen av modellen kommer från koncentrerad solenergi. Vidare framgår det av resultatet att klimatförändringar kan komma att påverka elproduktionen i Ghana då vattenkraftens genereringsförmåga är starkt klimatberoende och försämras i torrare klimat. Detta är en indikator på att Ghanas beroende av vattenkraft för sin elförsörjning inte är långsiktigt hållbart. Ghana är ett land med en ojämn utvecklingsgrad och det finns fortfarande många outvecklade områdenmed bristande tillgång till elektricitet. Dessutom ökar ofta behovet av vatten och mark för jordbruk i dessaområden och då dessa resurser även är viktiga för elproduktionen är det av största vikt att fortsatta studier undersöker eventuella konflikter mellan dessa sektorer för att undvika negativa synergieffekter iframtiden.

Scholars have reiterated that development discourse is concerned not just with the practices of development, but crucially with the politics and power of knowledge and ideas that shape development: their origins, content, contestation, diffusion and dissemination (Moore, 1995; Roy, 2010; Escobar, 2012). One issue facing all countries is climate change. Though contested, climate change has emerged as an urgent issue around which both ideas of development and practice are crystallising both in the north and south. However in this discourse, the diffusion and adoption of climate change adaptation and mitigation policy ideas to urban governments in Africa have received limited research attention. International reports indicate a low uptake of climate change policies in Africa generally, and urban areas in particular. The concern with climate change seems not to dwell much on seeking better understanding of the factors that determine the spread and adoption of climate change policy as well as the barriers to adoption in different world contexts. With particular reference to Ghana, this study examines the ideas and material conditions associated with policy diffusion to examine what drives diffusion and adoption of climate change policies in Africa’s urban areas. The study investigates climate change ideas: how climate change ideas move from ‘international spaces’ to national and, most crucially, urban localgovernment policy spaces. Drawing on social science, institutional and organisational concepts of change, it seeks to answer questions of how and to what extent climate change ideas are received and converted into policy and programmes at local government level. The conceptual framework suggests that international pressure, norm imitation, policy utility and emulation are potential concepts to explain adoption of climate change policies by metropolitan governments. To investigate which of these concepts adequately explain the situation in Ghana, data was collected using qualitative methods, semi-structured interviews with key policy makers in local government and urban development planning in Ghana. This is complemented by content analysis of grey literature, urban development plans, and policy documents, and a focus on 3 metropolitan urban areas of Accra, Kumasi and Tamale. Results suggest that the government of Ghana has instituted directives for climate change considerations in metropolitan development plans. The national urban policy has a climate change component. An investigation of metropolitan development plans indicated that climate change related projects were initiated in response to national directives. This emphasised exogenous pressure as a determinant of adoption by metropolitan governments in the context of Ghana. On the other hand, political and public interests shape the extent to which the directives on climate change are integrated in development plans. Moreover material constraints and agents’ limited conceptualisation of climate change policy place barriers to adoption. The research concludes that national guidelines and directives, underpin the response by Ghana’s metropolitan governments, whilst actors and resources shape the mechanisms for the adoption and barriers to comprehensive climate change policies.

Achieving food security in a changing climate is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. For subsistence-oriented farming families who experience firsthand pressures on their food system - population growth, environmental degradation and climate change, to name only a few - adaptation has become an urgent necessity. The ability to 'adapt and benefit' through a suite of climate change adaptation interventions that build adaptive capacity is touted by many humanitarian and development institutions as integral to food security today. However, adapting and benefiting is often a far reach for many smallholder farming families, who more commonly manage multiple interdependent stressors through a mix of adaptive actions and negative coping strategies. The relative benefit of this mix of adaptive and coping strategies is socially differentiated, varying by location and both between and within households. This combination of strategies, or the variety of options to enact livelihood outcomes, is framed as a response space. This thesis explores the impact of social differentiation on the adaptive capacity of subsistence-oriented farming families experiencing food insecurity and environmental change. Using a case study of two villages in the Upper West region of Ghana, it investigates how adaptive capacity and response spaces differ based on points of social differentiation; the drivers that limit or exacerbate adaptive capacity and response spaces; and the implications of these responses for humanitarian, development, and government programmes that aim to support these populations. These questions are approached using mixed methods (embedded direct observation, the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index household and individual survey, participatory action research exercises, child growth and hospital admissions records, focus groups, and key informant interviews) and a unique conceptual framework which draws heavily from systems thinking, feminist research theory, Sen's capabilities approach and grounded theory. I followed context-specific local drivers to deeply examine the familial and cultural political lives of households to better understand the interdependent nature of empowerment within the household, the distribution of scarce food, control over livelihoods and income, the management of poverty-induced stress, and the risk these drivers pose to public health. Out of this research, a multi-level vulnerability landscape surfaced, characterized by a food system on the margins and unequal adaptation within the case study population. The research led to the following insights: farmers experience multiple disadvantages being located in the Upper West of Ghana as compared to southern regions, and are underserved by multiple governmental and NGO institutions; farmers in turn experience heterogeneous vulnerability and access to response spaces at the community level, which are deeply entrenched in social norms that favour adult male bodies, male spaces, and male-typical productive roles; and, at the same time, there are individuals and families that stand outside these trends and are able to adapt and benefit, which highlights the need for an intersectional approach when examining the household and sub-household context. The 2015 Sustainable Development Goals include a pledge to ‘leave no one behind' in the pursuit to 'free the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet'. Understanding the differing vulnerability of subsistence-oriented smallholder farming populations, as well as the ways their response spaces and adaptive capacity have been differently shaped, will be important for the program design and targeting strategies of interventions to achieve this goal. This thesis aims to contribute to this enormous task.

Increasingly unpredictable, extreme and erratic rainfall with higher temperatures threatens to undermine the adaptive capacity of food systems and ecological resilience of smallholder landscapes. Despite growing concern, land managers still lack quantitative techniques to collect empirical data about the potential impact of climatic variability and change. This thesis aims to assess how ecosystem services and function and how this links with biodiversity and human wellbeing in smallholder agro-ecosystems in a changing climate. To this end, rather than relying on scenarios or probabilistic modelling, space was used as a proxy for time to compare states in disparate climatic conditions. Furthermore, an integrated methodological framework to assess ecosystem services at the field and landscape level was developed and operationalised, the results of which can be modelled with measures of wellbeing. Various multidisciplinary analytical tools were utilised, including ecological and socio-economic surveys, biological assessments, participatory open enquiry, and documenting ethnobotanical knowledge. The study was located within monsoon rice farms in the Terai Plains of Nepal, and dry season vegetable farms in Northern Ghana. Sites were selected that are climatically and culturally diverse to enable comparative analysis, with application to broad areas of adaptive planning. The linkages that bring about biophysical and human changes are complex and operate through social, political, economic and demographic drivers, making attribution extremely challenging. Nevertheless, it was demonstrated that within hotter and drier conditions in Ghana long-tongued pollinators and granivores, important for decomposition processes and pollination services, are more abundant in farms. Results further indicated that in cooler and drier conditions in Nepal, the taxonomic diversity of indigenous and close relative plant species growing in and around farms, important for the provisioning of ecosystem services, decreases. All other things equal, in both Nepal and Ghana findings indicate that overall human wellbeing may be adversely effected in hotter conditions, with a potentially significantly lower yields, fewer months of the year in which food is available, higher exposure to natural hazards and crop loss, unemployment, and psychological anxiety. Yet, surveys indicate smallholders continue to maintain a fair diversity of species in and around farms, which may allow them to secure basic necessities from provisioning ecosystem services. Moreover, farmers may employ adaptive strategies such as pooling labour and food sharing more frequently, and may have greater access to communication, technology, and infrastructure. Novel methodological and empirical contributions of this research offer predictive insights that could inform innovations in climate-smart agricultural practice and planning.

Orientador: Bastiaan Philip Reydon
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia
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Resumo: Sindicatos poderiam desempenhar um papel chave na minimização dos efeitos de mudanças climáticas para os pequenos proprietários de terra no setor informal, cuja maioria é analfabeta e carece de proteção legal, segurança trabalhista e acesso ao sistema de saúde, caso fosse dada a essas instituições a chance e se elas aceitassem tal papel. Mudanças climáticas tornam o emprego agrícola cada vez mais precário e, portanto, acrescentam uma nova dimensão às atividades e riscos contra os quais os sindicatos devem buscar proteger seus membros. Isso se torna mais evidente no contexto dos países em desenvolvimento que contribuíram menos para o problema das crescentes alterações nos padrões climáticos e sofrerão seus maiores impactos. A agricultura em particular será afetada, com implicações potencialmente sérias para a segurança alimentar, pobreza e emprego. Isso provavelmente abrirá espaço e relevância para a atuação dos sindicatos, mas o modo como irão enfrentar os novos desafios e oportunidades ainda não está claro. Mudanças climáticas sazonais afetarão os sistemas produtivos e recursos e ferramentas necessários para uma colheita bem sucedida. Mudanças no clima podem afetar também as necessidades por água e energia, além dos espécimes de sementes e os tipos de culturas que serão economicamente viáveis. Tudo isso, por sua vez, afetará o número de empregos, sua sazonalidade e as habilidades exigidas, além dos salários. Oportunidades de emprego podem desaparecer ou se tornar significativamente menos confiáveis, uma vez que as mudanças climáticas apresentarão um desafio fundamental aos negócios, como é comum no mercado de trabalho, pois mais trabalhadores serão empurrados para a economia informal. Cada vez mais os sindicatos terão que se engajar na questão climática através da capacitação de seus membros face à crescente variação do clima. A advocacia e a construção da consciência também precisarão ser interligadas a estratégias definidas para assegurar que o bem estar individual (não apenas a situação macroeconômica) permaneça como o centro do debate e da ação. Isso irá potencialmente colocar os sindicatos no centro dos debates sobre direito ambiental, justiça e equidade
Abstract: rade unions could play a key role in minimizing the effect of climate change on smallholder farmers in the informal sector, the majority of whom are illiterate and lack legal protection, job security and healthcare, if given a chance to do and if they too accept such a role. Climate change makes agricultural employment increasingly precarious and therefore adds a new dimension to the activities and risks against which trade unions must seek to protect their members. This is even more so in the context that developing countries who have contributed the least to the problem of increasing alteration of weather patterns and the environment will suffer the worst impacts. Agriculture in particular will be affected, with potentially serious implications for food security, poverty and employment. This is likely to open space and relevance for Trade Unions; but how they will stand up to these new challenges and opportunities remain to be seen. Seasonal weather changes will affect production systems and necessary resources and tools needed for successful harvest. Changes in climate could also change water and energy needs as well as types of seeds and crops which will be economically viable. All of these will in turn, affect the number of jobs, the seasonality of jobs, and the skills required as well as wages on offer. Employment opportunities could disappear or become significantly less reliable, as climate change will present a fundamental challenge to business as usual in the labour market as more workers will be pushed into the informal economy. Trade Unions will increasingly need to engage in climate change issues by building capacity of their members in the face of increasing climate variability. Advocacy and awareness building will also need to be matched with defined strategies to ensure that individual¿s wellbeing (not just the macro-economic situation) remains the center of the debate and action. This will potentially place Trade Unions at the center of the debates on environmental rights, justice and equity
Mestrado
Economia Social e do Trabalho
Mestre em Desenvolvimento Econômico

Climate change and its impacts are evident both globally and locally, manifesting in every sphere of life including natural resources. The African continent is considered the most vulnerable to these impacts while Ghana was ranked the 59th most vulnerable country to climate change in the world in 2014. Studies about groundwater resources under climate change point to some already occurred impacts with more anticipated. It is noted that climate change will exacerbate water stressing situations in Ghana as groundwater resources will be negatively affected. For instance, future scenarios indicate a general reduction in groundwater recharge of 5-22 % for 2020 and 30-40% for 2050. Already, the northern part of the country where most of the population depends on groundwater is noted for fallen groundwater tables. Therefore, in order to address these impacts in Africa, the role of institutions in promoting adaptation has been identified as one of the strategies. It is realised that institutions shape the nature of the impact of climate change, influence the way communities respond to climate change and serve as the intermediaries for external support. A glean of institutions in Ghana shows a plethora of them that are directly or indirectly regulating activities relating to water resources in the face of climate change. The thesis, therefore, looks at the nature of these institutions (state/formal) and their roles in promoting groundwater adaptation to climate change. In order to understand in detail the “how” and “why” of adaptation in relation to groundwater resources and also have a multi-perspective discussion that considers the voices of all relevant groups of actors together with their interactions in promoting groundwater resources adaptation, the study adopted a qualitative approach and made the Atankwidi catchment a case study area. Using triangulation, data were drawn from both primary (community/office interactions) and secondary sources and augmented by analyses of policy documents. The results of the study revealed that at both the national and sub-national levels, there is a multiplicity of state formal institutions in the form of laws, policies and administration even though there is currently no legislation designed in Ghana that focuses specifically on climate change adaptation. Focusing on the themes of groundwater adaptation, managing groundwater demand for domestic purposes appear to be receiving greater attention while storage, discharge and recharge need improvement. Like the Inuit in the Canadian Arctic, groundwater farmers of Atankwidi based on local knowledge have identified methods of adapting to the impacts of climate change on groundwater in the form of deepening wells, changing crop types, conjunctively using both surface and groundwater water and migrating to other places. Nonetheless, this local knowledge for promoting adaptation is limited. Therefore, formal institutions can enhance the scope of this knowledge by first of all recognising and documenting this knowledge as part of adaption efforts. Additionally, these institutions should educate and update local knowledge holders about some scientific methods of groundwater adaptation. This will create a new form of knowledge which is integrated and comprehensive enough to function independently to promote adaptation. Associated with this, farmers should be guided in adopting artificial methods of groundwater recharge that are anchored on local knowledge to boost groundwater availability. Inspired by the achievements of some existing artificial groundwater recharge methods in same northern Ghana, the thesis identified that the adoption of Managed Aquifer Recharge methods such as a subsurface dam in Atankwidi is feasible. This is premised on the fact that apart from the geophysical parameters of the catchment, it is realised that the institutional environment (both formal and informal) and the existence of local materials coupled with local knowledge support the construction and management of a subsurface dam. The thesis concluded that artificial recharge will contribute to promoting adaptation since natural recharge may be negatively affected over time due to the nature of rainfall pattern caused by climate change coupled with increasing population growth and booming groundwater dry season irrigation.:1. General background 2. Review of the existing literature 3. General research design/methodology 4. Background issues of climate change in Atankwidi catchment 5. Formal institutions and groundwater adaptation to climate change 6. Assessing institutions’ performance for adaptation 7. Local knowledge for groundwater irrigation 8. Feasibility of managed aquifer recharge to augment groundwater availability 9. General conclusions and recommendations 10. References APPENDICES
Der Klimawandel und seine Auswirkungen sind global und lokal sichtbar und manifestieren sich in allen Lebensbereichen, einschließlich denen der natürlichen Ressourcen. Der afrikanische Kontinent gilt als am anfälligsten für diese Auswirkungen. Ghana wurde 2014 auf Rang 59 der für den Klimawandel anfälligsten Länder geführt. Studien über Grundwasserressourcen und Klimawandel zeigen bereits eingetretene Auswirkungen und deuten auf darauf hin, dass sich der Einfluss des Klimawandels auf das Grundwasser zukünftig noch verstärken wird. Der Klimawandel wird die Wasserknappheit in Ghana verschärfen, da die Grundwasserressourcen negativ beeinflusst werden. Zukunftsszenarien zeigen beispielsweise, dass die Grundwasserneubildung im Jahr 2020 um 5-22% und bis 2050 um 30-40% zurückgehen wird. Der nördliche Teil des Landes, in dem der Großteil der Bevölkerung vom Grundwasser abhängig ist, ist bereits jetzt von fallenden Grundwasserspiegeln betroffen. Um diesen Auswirkungen in Afrika entgegenzuwirken, wurde die Rolle der Institutionen bei der Förderung der Klimawandelanpassung als eine mögliche Strategie identifiziert. Institutionen können die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf eine Region mitprägen, sie können beeinflussen wie Gemeinschaften auf den Klimawandel reagieren, und als Vermittler für Unterstützung von außen dienen. Eine Zusammenstellung relevanter Institutionen in Ghana, die direkte oder indirekte Aktivitäten im Zusammenhang mit Wasserressourcen und Klimawandel regulieren, zeigt deren Fülle. Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Art dieser (staatlichen) Institutionen und ihrer Rolle bei der Förderung der Klimawandelanpassung des Grundwassers. Um das „Wie“ und „Warum“ dieser Anpassung im Detail zu verstehen und eine multiperspektivische Diskussion zu ermöglichen, bei der die Stimmen aller relevanten Akteursgruppen zusammen mit ihren Interaktionen bei der Förderung der Grundwasserressourcenanpassung berücksichtigt werden, verfolgt diese Studie einen qualitativen Ansatz mit dem Atankwidi-Einzugsgebiet als Fallstudie. Mittels Triangulation wurden Daten aus primären (Gemeinebefragungen) und sekundären Quellen gesammelt und durch Analysen von Richtlinien ergänzt. Die Ergebnisse der Studie zeigen, dass es sowohl auf nationaler als auch auf subnationaler Ebene eine Vielzahl staatlicher, formaler Institutionen in Form von Gesetzen, Richtlinien und Verwaltung gibt, obwohl in Ghana derzeit keine Gesetzgebung existiert, die sich speziell mit der Klimawandelanpassung befasst. Bezogen auf die Anpassung des Grundwassermanagements, wird der Bewirtschaftung des Grundwasserbedarfs für häusliche Zwecke viel Aufmerksamkeit zuteil, während die Speicherung, Entsorgung und Anreicherung von Wasser ungenügend betrachtet werden. Wie die Inuit in der kanadischen Arktis, haben die Landwirte von Atankwidi auf Grundlage des lokalen Wissens Methoden zur Anpassung an die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf das Grundwasser entwickelt, beispielsweise in Form von Vertiefungen von Brunnen, Änderung der Kulturpflanzenart, gleichzeitiger Nutzung von Oberflächen- und Grundwasser oder der Umsiedlung in andere Gebiete. Trotz der Tatsache, dass ihr lokales Wissen eine Anpassung ermöglicht, ist der begrenzte Umfang dieses Wissens als eine Schwachstelle anzusehen. Formale Institutionen können den Umfang dieses lokalen Wissens nutzbar machen und erweitern, indem sie dieses Wissen über Anpassungsmaßnahmen anerkennen und dokumentieren. Darüber hinaus sollten diese Institutionen lokale Gemeinden über weitere wissenschaftliche Methoden der Grundwasseranpassung informieren. Dadurch wird zusätzliches Wissen geschaffen, das integrierbar und umfassend genug ist, um eine unabhängige Anpassung zu fördern. Zusätzlich sollten Landwirte angeleitet werden, auf lokalem Wissen basierende Methoden der künstlichen Grundwasseranreicherung anzuwenden, um die Verfügbarkeit von Grundwasserressourcen zu erhöhen. Inspiriert von den Erfolgen einiger Anlagen zur künstlichen Grundwasseranreicherung im Norden Ghanas, empfiehlt diese Doktorarbeit die Implementierung von künstlichen Grundwasseranreicherungsanalagen in Atankwidi. Diese Empfehlung stützt sich auf den günstigen geophysikalischen Gegebenheiten des Einzugsgebiets und der Tatsache, dass das (formelle und informelle) institutionelle Umfeld eine Implementierung ermöglicht. Diese Arbeit kommt zu dem Schluss, dass die Anpassung der Grundwasserressourcen im Norden Ghanas mehr Aufmerksamkeit im Bereich der künstlichen Anreicherung erfordert, da die natürliche Grundwasserneubildung aufgrund der durch den Klimawandel verursachten veränderten Niederschlagsmuster in Verbindung mit einem zunehmenden Bevölkerungswachstum und einer boomenden Trockenzeitbewässerung im Grundwasser starke Veränderungen hervorrufen wird.:1. General background 2. Review of the existing literature 3. General research design/methodology 4. Background issues of climate change in Atankwidi catchment 5. Formal institutions and groundwater adaptation to climate change 6. Assessing institutions’ performance for adaptation 7. Local knowledge for groundwater irrigation 8. Feasibility of managed aquifer recharge to augment groundwater availability 9. General conclusions and recommendations 10. References APPENDICES

For the past 25 years (1990-1015), the state of Ghana forests have experienced loss of cover by 2% annually. Deforestation has therefore, characterised the state the forest ecosystems all these years. Severally drivers of deforestation mostly anthropogenic, have caused the diverse degrees of forest loss in the various forest sub-types within the studied area. Notably are; agriculture which was predominate driver in 1990-2010 while mining and mineral exploration from 2011-2015 as the most principle cause of the forest calamity. Deforestation has contributed to the fast rising effects of climate change in Ghana of which evidences are clearly shown in rising temperatures and drought and flooding cases resulting from unannounced rainfall patterns.