Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Other tenurial aspects in southern and northern Ghana sites
In the sites within both southern and northern Ghana, a relevant tenurial aspect is
the traditional perception of land by its owners as a sacred ancestral property. This
perception has positive implications for biodiversity and biophysical status in gen-
eral because, as a sacred ancestral property, land may not be alienated, but rather
held and managed sustainably so as to ensure its availability for future generations.
Having a similar favourable positive implication for biodiversity is the special
protection traditionally accorded to certain species of trees and groves of forest
because of their being perceived as the abode or embodiment of gods and ances-
tral spirits. As such, biotic resources of this kind are placed under the special
custody of an earth priest or spiritual head, notably
tindana
, through whom
accessibility may be achieved.
A last tenurial aspect having a positive implication for biodiversity is the endur-
ing customary perception of any tree planted as exclusively belonging to the person
who planted it. By guaranteeing that benefits from trees planted accrue directly to
the planter, people are likely to plant on a sustainable basis, thereby enhancing the
quantum and diversity of trees.
Conclusion
There are aspects of resource tenure that favour biodiversity. They include:
•
the kinship landholding arrangement, which appears to be less exploitative of
the land than usurious tenancies
•
the special protection accorded to land, some species of trees, and groves of
forest because of their being perceived as ancestral property, sacred, or excep-
tionally useful
•
the treatment of trees planted as belonging exclusively to the planter.
The challenge is to recognize, nurture, and popularize these and other positive
tenurial aspects as part and parcel of the process of enhancing biodiversity
conservation.
REFERENCES
Agyepong, G. T., J. S. Nabila, E. A. Gyasi, and S. K. Kufogbe,
Aspects of the Wider Spatial
Context of CIPSEG
, UNESCO Co-operative Integrated Project on Savanna Ecosystems
in Ghana: UNESCO-CIPSEG, A Baseline Study, Legon: Department of Geography and
Resource Development, University of Ghana, 1993.
Agyepong, G. T., E. A. Gyasi, and J. S. Nabila with S. K. Kufogbe, “Population, land-use
and the environment in a West African savanna ecosystem: An approach to sustainable
