The contribution of Humans to vegetation degradation in Northern Ghana

     It is a well-known fact that land is a free gift of nature which is limited in supply. The activities of mankind on land may always either make or unmake it. The old adage that “when the last tree dies, the last man dies” sounds simple, but contains a very strong message of caution to mankind about the relevance of trees and even nature in general to survival. In general, the extent of the activities of humans on land may vary from one place to another depending on the natural endowments that these lands hold. For instance, if the major source of livelihood for the people in a particular place is the land, then we can expect more human activities on the land over there.

     In the Northern part of Ghana in West Africa, the vegetation cover is basically savanna. Most of the land there is flat, with trees and vast lands of natural grass cover. The Shea tree and mango trees are the commonest trees in this zone. Most of the people in this area are peasant farmers who rely solely on small scale cultivation of the land for survival. A great deal of cattle rearing also takes place in this zone because the environment there is suitable for that purpose. Quite regrettably, the people of Northern Ghana have over the years engaged in activities that have caused a faster deterioration rate of the vegetation over there compared to any other part of the country. Before recent times, the mining communities located in the central part of the country use to have the fastest land degradation rates. These human activities in the North are not farfetched: they include: (1)the continues practice of indigenous farming methods such as shifting cultivation,(2) Over grazing, (3)bush burning,(4) charcoal burning (5) sand winning activities among others. In the upcoming paragraphs, I shall proceed to discussed each of these human activities in Northern Ghana in detail except that on bush burning since I already discussed it in great detail in one of my earlier posts titled “causes of bush fires in northern Ghana”.

     By definition, shifting cultivation is a form of agriculture, in which an area of ground is cleared of the vegetation and cultivated for a few years and then abandoned for a new area until its fertility has been naturally restored. The practice of this form of agriculture is very common in Northern Ghana. The farmers in this area, most of whom are illiterates produce mostly yam and corn. These farmers believe that yaw can only be cultivated on newly cleared lands. For this reason, they move onto new lands very year. The implication here is that several acres of the vegetation cover in this area are cleared each year to make way for the cultivation of yaw-the staple food of the people over there. For the most part this practice can be blamed on the illiteracy of these farmers and also the complete absence of education and information in the area regarding the downside of destroying the vegetation. It turns out that this issue may need exigent attention before things spin out of control.

     Secondly, over grazing is an issue in this part of the country. In simple terms, overgrazing refers to the situation whereby grass-eating animals such as cattle are allowed to graze so heavily on a particular piece of grassland land to the point that it actually gets damaged or get bare and liable to erosion.  Almost all cattle raisers in this area rely of the natural grass lands close to valley areas to feed their cows and even sheep. And more often than not these animals are constantly brought to the same spots to graze until they get bare and exposed.

     Thirdly, Charcoal burning is another major contributor to the “rape” of the vegetation in the northern part of Ghana. On the same post mention earlier above on bush fires, you can find a detailed the description of how charcoal is produced. But in the nutshell it involves the cutting down and burning of tree logs and putting the fire out just before the logs are completely consumed to get a black substance called charcoal. Charcoal is the major source of domestic fuel for cooking in most parts of Ghana not only in the north, but it is mainly produced in the north and transported to all other parts of the country.

     Finally, sand winning is another issue which is increasing becoming a problem in this area. This was never an issue in the area at least in the two decades. Increased settlement has led to the rise in the demand for sand for molding blocks used in housing construction. Sand is collected indiscriminately especially from water ways exposing these areas to serious erosion when it rains.

     In summary, rapid measures need to be put in place to arrest this situation immediately otherwise the possibility of the place becoming a complete desert in the next few decades is just a matter of time.

Options to address the land tenure problem in Ghana

     In this post, I proceed as a follow up on my earlier post titled “Land ownership in Ghana and its effect on Socio-economic development”. The premise of that post was to point out the socio-economic consequences of Ghana’s current land tenure system. In this post I present a few suggestions to fix this land tenure problem.

     To start with, the protection of investors’ interests is key to look into. To protect the interests of investors and also make Ghana an attractive destination for investment, it is necessary for the Government to reform our land tenure system and make laws that will make it easier for any investor to acquire large parcels of land for large-scale agricultural activities as well as other commercial projects. Measures, which ensure the legal security of deed and title registration over the period for which the land is rented or leased, are urgently needed. Given Ghana’s traditional system and cultural norms, it may not be possible for the Government to reform the land tenure system to the extent that land can be bought, owned and sold privately as occurs in some countries. Indeed I’m not advocating such a radical reform.

     One option for assisting with land acquisition for large-scale commercial/economic development would be for the Government to acquire land directly from landowners and pay compensation. The Government could then lease the land to potential investors at market rates, and the rental income paid as compensation to the landowners. Compensation could be in the form of either lump sum up front payment or an annual rent over the term of the lease. This currently occurs with some stool lands acquired by the Government for commercial/developmental activities through the Stools Lands Division within the Ministry of Land and Forestry in Ghana. The advantage of this option is that potential investors will deal directly with the Government of Ghana, which is a recognized legal and sovereign entity rather than some obscure, individual traditional land-owner(s). This practice can be expanded, formalized and enshrined in legislation and backed by transparent administrative guidelines and/or regulations for its implementation.

     Another option is for the Government to facilitate an arrangement whereby landowners can participate in economic projects as financial partners by converting the rent they would have otherwise received from leasing or renting the land into equity. Direct financial interest in large-scale projects can be a powerful way of achieving local community support and commitment.

      A third option is the creation of “land banks” where land owners who may wish to offer their land for leasing or renting on a long term basis, can register their details. Land banks can offer a “one-stop land acquisition service” for potential investors similar to the “free zones” concept. However, to obviate the problems relating to land acquisition in Ghana described above, it will be necessary for the Government to ensure that potential investors receive secure titles to the land they are renting or leasing over the life of the rental or lease agreement.

     With so many highly educated and progressive chiefs now occupying traditional stools and skins in Ghana, there has never been an opportune time for a government to champion the reform of the country’s land tenure system. This presents the current President of Ghana and his government both a challenge and an excellent leadership opportunity, to bring about a positive reform of the existing land tenure system for the benefit of the country.

     In the 21st Century Ghana, we cannot continue to ignore land tenure reforms. To do so will be at the expense of Ghana’s socio-economic development; this in the end will unleash untold hardship on its populace.

Land ownership in Ghana and its effect on Socio-economic development

     The current constitution of Ghana identifies four main categories of land ownership. These include: public/state lands, vested lands, allodial/stool /skin lands and private/family lands. First of all the distinctions among these forms of land ownership are fairly straight forward. Public/state lands refer of all lands owned by the state. These mostly include lands endowed with natural resources as well as other lands acquired by the government for public interest. Vested lands refer to lands for which an individual or a group has an absolute right to for some present or future interest. The third form of land ownership in Ghana is the allodial/stool/skin lands. In Ghana, each traditional community originates from a clan. A clan is a group of people who believe to have descended from a common ancestor, and who share the same beliefs and taboos and are mostly the original settlers of a particular community. The chiefs or traditional rulers of the community are usually members of the clan. All lands that are collectively owned and kept by the head of the clan, who is also most times the chief of the community, are called stool/skin lands. Quite often than not, these lands are believed to be spiritual lands and are not meant to be used by anybody for any purpose. The last category of land ownership is the private or family land. Family lands are those lands purchased individually of jointly by a family. These lands are also more often than not inherited from parents or grandparents.

     Over the years some people have raised concern about the existing land tenure system in Ghana and regard it as anachronistic and the need for an urgent reform. These people have also argued that Ghana’s land tenure system impedes the country’s socio-economic development, and is completely out of place in a modern, progressive country. From a personal point of view, I share the same concern as these people and the reasons I shall discuss below.

     First of all, the current land tenure system constitutes a serious disincentive to investment in Ghana’s economy. The lack of several large-scale commercial agricultural projects in Ghana, similar to those existing in some francophone West African countries such as the Ivory Coast, can be partly attributed to the problems associated with acquiring land for economic activities.

     It is unlikely that serious large overseas investors would be prepared to undertake protracted negotiations, on a one-to-one basis, with several allodial title holders in order to put together suitable large parcels of land for large-scale commercial agricultural projects. Even where this is possible, investors potentially face the problem of on-going litigation over the legal right of the land they have acquired or leased.

     It is not uncommon for the rights to land, which has already been leased or rented and compensation duly paid by an investor to one allodial titleholder, to be challenged or disputed by another allodial titleholder. There have been instances where disputes have arisen when individuals had successfully negotiated parcels of land for residential/commercial construction only to be challenged by other parties, who also claim ownership of, or interest in, the same parcel of land.

     Throughout Ghana’s history, the nation’s peasant farmers have done a wonderful job in feeding the country based on subsistence agriculture. This mode of production may continue to sustain the nation if the aim is only to satisfy Ghana’s domestic food needs. Peasant agriculture cannot continue to meet Ghana’s domestic food needs as well as exports. Quite unfortunately, the few people who are usually interested in commercial farming would not be given this allodial /skin lands of to farm on for reasons best known to these chiefs.

     In light of these economic draw backs arising from the current land tenure system in Ghana, an urgent reform of land ownership laws could be a great way to move forward.

 

Causes deserts: an overview of some geological explanations

         

            Desert landscapes are the least understood among terrain types of the Earth. To this end, El-baz (1988) argues that the dearth of the basic information on the arid lands has resulted in the misconception that the desert is man-made and that, therefore, we can ‘fix it’.  Scientific evidence indicates that deserts are part of the natural feature of the Earth and Mars. They form as a result of the lack or scarcity of rain, which may be cyclical.

            Most deserts are hot. One geological study explains that within the latitudes of the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the sun appears directly overhead at noon on at least one day of the year. To the north or south of them, the sun is never directly overhead, and not as concentrated as the beam that reaches the tropical areas.

            It is not uneasy to see that deserts are not scattered haphazardly over the earth; the pattern of their occurrence is perhaps shaped by the factors that produced them. The major world deserts occur in two discontinuous belts ringing the globe. Because more land surface occurs in the Northern Hemisphere in the latitudes described, more deserts occur in the Northern than the Southern Hemisphere.

            Not all deserts are hot. Some of these dry lands, like the Atacama of Chile, the Namib and Kalahari of southern Africa, and the western Australian desert are not typically hot.

It is important to understand that warm air holds more moisture than cold air. With this in mind, I shall move on to briefly discuss four main natural causes of deserts: the Earth’s air circulation patterns could potentially cause deserts. Warm air rises at the equator, and cools. Since cool air holds less water, precipitation is common at the equator. When dry air at  moves north and south. At ±30 degrees, the dry air sinks and warms. The warmer air can hold more water resulting in evaporation of water and the formation of deserts. The equatorial region is tropical and ± 30 degrees is desert. 
     Rain shadow effect is also a factor that potentially causes deserts.This occurs when moving moisture in the air encounters a mountain and is moved upward. The ascending air is cooled and releases moisture on the windward side of the range. Once over the summit, the air descends the lee side of the range, warming as it does so, and hence increasing its evaporative power. The windward side of a range may support a heavy well-watered forest, while the leeward side and the area far below it, robbed of moisture, and is occupied by a desert or steppe plant.

            Distance from the ocean is another factor that causes deserts. Most water in atmosphere is evaporated from the sea, and this water eventually precipitates on land. Land closer to the sea generally receives much of this moisture.  As air moves inland, it gets depleted of moisture and precipitation drops.  Areas lying deep within a continent may become desert simply because air currents reaching them have already traversed vast land distances; by the time they arrive over the deserts, these currents have already lost the moisture they once carried. Research has shown that this is true of some of the Asian deserts: the Gobi and Takla-Makan Deserts.

           Finally, deserts could naturally be caused by what is termed as coastal cooling. This occurs when warn, moist air is cooled,and causes excess water to condense and fall as precipitation. If it is subsequently re-warmed, it will be drier than it was previously.

            In conclusion, all these climatic, desert-producing factors descending, drying air currents; mountain-produced rain shadows; distance from oceanic moisture sources; and cold ocean currents are instrumental, sometimes singly, more often in combination, as primary forces producing arid lands.

Reference:

El-baz F., 1988. Origin and Evolution of Deserts, Center for Remote sensing, Boston University,    Boston Massachusetts, USA, Interdisciplinary Science reviews vol. 13, No. 4

Climate in west Africa-An over view

For all persons planning a trip to west Africa either in the near or distant future, knowing when the rainy season (or wet season) and the dry season falls, helps determine the best time to go.  It is important to know that in some parts of this region, the heat during the rainy season is worse because of the added discomfort of humidity. This is especially the case in costal areas such as the southern parts of Ghana, Togo and Ivory Coast. For the most part, the weather in West Africa is not really predictable with a great degree of certainty and rains do fail causing untold hardships to millions of subsistence farmers in the region.

            In general, it is hot year round in West Africa with an average temperature hovering around 85 Fahrenheit (30 celsius) during the day. The dry season in West Africa generally falls around the end of October –March. Closer to the coast it is always a little more humid even in the dry months, but there are fewer mosquitos around and unpaved roads are passable. Given that most visitors come to West Africa to enjoy its beaches and cultures, the dry season is a good time to visit. This is because at this the issue of mosquitoes is less of a problem and the weather is appropriate enough to enhance a full enjoyment of the beaches. However, it can sometimes get extremely hot during this time, especially at the end of the dry season, i.e. in March/April.

            Another condition that could potentially be a problem to visitors who might be new to that kind of weather is the harmattan. The harmattan is a weather condition, which is a major part of the dry season. Typically, the harmattan is characterized by very dry atmosphere, with strong winds carrying lots of dust and sand in the air. Harmattan is certainly not a good period for photo-shoots. The hardest hit areas by the harmattan are usually the northern parts of the sub-region, such as the northern parts of Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ivory Coast, Togo and some parts of Nigeria.       

            The rainy season in West Africa generally falls from the end of April - July on the coastal areas with a second shorter rainy season in September/October. The rains don't last all day and are much enjoyed when they fall. Water shortages are common in this region, so rainwater is a blessing especially in cities on the coast. Further inland toward the desert, there's one rainy season and it tends to fall from July - September. This is the best time to go to countries like Mali, as temperatures cool down a little and rivers become more navigable. However, A major problem associated with the rainy season is mosquitoes. The rainy season creates perfect breeding conditions for mosquitoes, especially in cities area areas with poor drainage systems and where little ponds of water is found days or even weeks after a downpour. Thus foreigners travelling to West Africa in the rainy season might consider staying in the northern parts because the mosquito-problem is quite minimal in such areas.

Discovery of “liquid black gold” (oil) and Ghana’s Development

Since her independence in 1957, it has being the policy of every government of Ghana to explore her hydrocarbon deposits. Historically, exploration for oil and gas reserves in Ghana had been very limited due to the high risk nature of its terrain and low oil price environment in 2004 when the Kosmos Energy, a premier international oil and gas exploration and production company focused on the frontier with its primary areas of operation being underexplored regions along the Atlantic Margin, made initial contact with Ghana National Petroleum Corporation. Between 1898 to the late nineties an estimated hundred exploration wells had been drilled in Ghana with no significant discovery except for the Saltpond (a coastal town in the central region of Ghana) oil find in 1970.

            Today Ghana has discovered oil in commercial quantities its central region in three Points near Axim (a town on the west coast of Ghana). Although Ghanaians are excited about this oil discovery, some sections of Ghanaians are skeptical that the country may be plunged into the resource curse syndrome. This is because, countries that have a large share of natural resource exports in GDP have a much worse growth performance than those that are less reliant on natural resources. Nevertheless, the experiences of countries such as Norway, Botswana, Thailand, and Malaysia give hope that the natural resource curse can be avoided if the quality of institutions as well as policy is strong before extraction begins. Also, given the extensive opportunities that the country has to learn from

the broad experiences of oil-rich economies, there is ample opportunity to derive significant benefits from the discovery. This however, is contrary to other held views that institutions in Africa are too weak to manage properly the significant and varied interests that evolve from the development of an oil industry or any extractive industry. Numerous poor examples have often been cited to support these views, and the most recurring ones being the situations in Nigeria, Cameroon and Gabon. Thus, history of natural resource exploitation and management in Africa is certainly not a very positive one. Besides, Ghana’s own history with the extractive industries is quite contentious and this has led to debates about whether Ghana has been able to effectively apply the revenue from various extractive industries to finance its development agenda. This obviously, remains a question to be addressed properly with good research. This is especially so in view of the considerable deterioration in prominent mining communities in Ghana such as Obuasi, Prestea, Bogosu to mention but a few. These are often referred as the mining curse.

            The question of whether Ghana is properly positioned to manage the new oil boom remains topical both on the policy front and in the public discourse. The extent to which civil society groups and academics can contribute in harnessing ideas to ensure effective administration and management of the oil resources is critical. What specific policy measures and legislative instruments are required to engender transparency and accountability in the application of oil revenues, without unduly undermining private investment interests in the new sector? And, what could be a reasonable expectation about the likely benefits of the oil discovery to the Ghanaian people, particularly in the context of poverty reduction and sustained local development. How will Ghana manage the oil revenue to help transform the structure of the Ghanaian economy? How will Ghana manage the likely environmental effects? How will Ghana manage the windfall to avoid potential `Dutch Disease effects? These key questions certainly open they way for further research.

Waste Management in Ghana

Like in many other African countries, Ghana has a major difficulty in managing domestic and industrial waste in whatever form it may take. This is commonly an issue in big cities especially, where the population is great. Unlike cities in the developed world like in America and Europe and other places, the cities in Ghana are setup differently. These ranges from the way settlements are constructed to the way markets and businesses are setup. And the way these cities are set up and run contribute to serious waste management challenges. For instance most of the markets in Ghana are open-air markets where people sit under tress, canopies, giant umbrellas and other forms of shades to do business (mostly trade in ). More often than not waste management facilities like trash bins, toilet and urinary facilities in these market are either not available or in a bad state for use. Faced with situations as this, people resort to indiscriminate ways of disposing off waste.

            Other factor that contributes to making waste management an issue in Ghana is the increase usage of plastic materials. In Ghana distilled water is sold in sachets popularly known as  “pure water” consumed mostly at home, on the streets and at work are hawked on the streets.  It turns out that a lot of the empty plastic bags that are left after the water in them is consumed find their way in the gutters and bushes along the streets. Drainage problems are created by lots of liquid and solid wastes trapped in gutters and pits and one common resultant effect is frequent flooding that takes lives and livelihoods.

The situation described above presents a small picture of a big situation that cannot really be discussed in great detail, at least not for the purpose this discussion.

            As expected, households do their best to keep their houses clean but not the streets. In this way, most households put all their waste together and deposit them at small satellite locations. This is then collected by waste collection contractors and dumped at the main disposal sites which are normally abandoned sand and stone quarries, without any treatment, covering or adequate effluent management plans.

The result is sites with bad odour, breeding grounds for disease carrying flies and bacteria, and serving as sources of pollution to adjacent and underground water bodies. The sites become methane-producing sources and are environmentally unfriendly because the methane produced is allowed to dissipate directly into the environment adding to the build up of Green House Gases (GHG’s).

            Several governments have tried to come up with strategies to manage waste in the country and some of the best waste management practices adopted so far include the production of biogas from human liquid waste. Biogas consists of methane and CO₂, which are the result of an anaerobic fermentation process, during which all disease causing bacteria are destroyed. The gas produced is either be used for power production or other localized applications. Secondly, the establishment of plants to recycle plastic waste has over the last few years helped reduced the amount of plastic thrown on the streets. Waste plastic bags are collected by people heaped in large quantities weighed and sold to the few recycle companies in the country.

            With these measures already put in place to arrest this problem of waste management, I put forward the following more suggestions to help further tackle the problem. First of all, Ghana government should show commitment in putting in place appropriate mechanisms and infrastructure for the proper treatment and disposal of waste. Household and industries should be encouraged and educated to get ready to absorb the cost of proper waste disposal.  Regulatory institutions should also enforce legislature on waste preparation, treatment and disposal.

Causes of Bushfires in Ghana

 

Picture of a bushfire in Ghana

Ghana, a former British colony located at the west coast of West Africa has a land surface of about 23.9 million squared kilometers. For many decades now, the issue of bush fires in Ghana especially in its northern part (the savanna area) has been a major issue of concern. The effects of bushfire on the livelihoods and on the ecosystem in Ghana have increasing become damaging over the years.

It turns out that the incidence of

bushfires is seasonal. There are two main seasons in Ghana: the first is the rainy season, which starts from May and ends in October, and the Dry season, which runs from November to March.  The dry season in Ghana is sometimes referred to as the “hammattan” season. Almost 100% of bushfires in the country are recorded in the dry season.  The hammattan season is one that usually comes with very dry atmosphere, strong dry winds moving at about 50miles per hour with a lot of dust in the air and also comes with lots of sunshine. The conditions during the dry season usually leave the vegetation very dry.  It might be quite clear to the reader at this point that the hammattan season is one that supports burning of any kind especially grass lands. In this next section below, I shall proceed to discuss briefly, some of the main causes of bush fires in Ghana and end with a few suggestions to combat them.

            The causes of bush fires during the hammattan can be traced to a lot of sources. Majority of these fires occur in the rural communities and are largely caused by the activities of human beings. These range from farming practices, to hunting activities, honey harvesting accidents, charcoal burning accidents, burning by herds men etc.

            Burning is embedded in the cultural values and traditional farming systems of most rural farmers in Ghana. In preparing land for farming, which occurs at the end of March, most farmers clear and gather rubbish on their farms from previous year’s harvests and burn them and quite often these land preparation process result in bush fires. Secondly, at the beginning of the dry season also, cattle herders often start fires to stimulate the growth of young shoots. According to these herders, the growth of young offshoots is more palatable and contains more nutrients.

            Another practice that potentially often starts off a bushfire is hunting with naked fire.  Some rural folks hunt for rats, rabbits and other bush meat that live in holes beneath the ground by trying to smoke them out. A lot of the time they fail to put out their fires, which result in bush fires.  

            Further more, a great deal of bush fires has also been caused by wild honey harvesting activities. In rural Ghana, wild honey is harvested during the night using naked fire. In this way, folks try to burn out bees from the hive so as to collect the honey. Out of negligence, some of them sometimes fail to put out the fires when they are done, and potentially cause bushfires.

            Last but not the least charcoal burning has also been one of the main causes of bushfires in Ghana over the years. Charcoal is a domestic fuel that is used mostly for cooking. The process of producing charcoal requires burning logs and tree stamps and putting the fire out right before they burn out completely so as to collect the incomplete substance called charcoal. A lot of the charcoal burning process usually ends up with a bushfire.

            To tackle the problem of these bushfires, the following proposed solutions could be helpful. First of all there should be mass public education on bush fire prevention measures. The formation of bushfire clubs in schools tasked with championing the fight against bush fires could also be a positive measure to a better crusade against bush fires. Finally, there should be tougher punishments or charges for culprits of bushfires.