Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
- Ignorance of roles of wetlands that are taken for granted.
- Land tenure conflicts.
- Lack of long-term financing leading to periods of
neglect in working with communities as less than 40 %
of the mangrove sites have received any intervention
(Table
1
).
- Lack of adequate knowledge and capacity for wetland
management.
Tourism revenue
Ankasa Resource Reserve
Nzulezo
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
Conclusions and Recommendations
2006
2007
2008
Year
Conclusions
Tourism revenue (Nzulezo)
From this rapid assessment exercise, limited in time and by
certain information gaps, the following conclusions can be
drawn:
• Types, distribution, values and status of mangroves and
associated wetlands in the Amanzule region.
More than 1,000 ha of mostly estuarine mangrove forests
exists in scattered pockets in the Amanzule area, repre-
senting about 10 % of national mangrove coverage with
most of the mangroves not captured in the current vegeta-
tion maps of the area. These mangroves are generally
healthy, supporting the livelihood and ecological securities
of surrounding fishing or farming human population. There
was a general perception by mangrove communities that
these mangroves have decreased in area over the last
20 years with identified threats that include wood collection
for fuelwood, charcoal and construction; pollution from
wastes disposal, especially in around urban centres and
mining activities; and mouth closure due to sedimentation
that impedes the tidal flows that maintain mangrove eco-
logical processes.
The total aboveground carbon stored in intact mangroves
in the area is also important and can be comparable to
similar mangrove systems.
The mangrove is currently valued for fuelwood use at
4,146 Ghana cedis (US$2,765) per ha with a significant
impact on mangrove forest.
• Institutional issues and governance of wetlands in the area.
The various institutions and stakeholders at the national,
regional and local community levels have varying interests
which should be considered in any effort aimed at man-
aging the wetlands in the area Feasibility of a PES scheme.
A PES scheme may be feasible when addressed within
the context of the institutional and stakeholders in the region.
The challenge is how to get the private sector, especially the
oil companies, interested in investing in ecosystem services
protection. Already, private tourism initiatives hold promise
as some have started green investments. Oil and gas com-
panies need to be guided within a certain platform on
mangrove ecosystem valuation information on what society
2006
2007
2008
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Month
Fig. 6
Monthly and yearly trends in tourism revenue from two
touristic sites located around Amanzule wetlands, Ghana (Source Data
from Ghanaian tourism review, Ghana Tourist Board, Ministry of
Tourism, Ghana)
an assessment of the current level of implementation is made
with suggested strategies for implementation towards sus-
tainable mangrove management.
The following general observations can be made:
• First-level institutional and stakeholder analysis (central
government, department agencies, regional administra-
tion, academic research institutions, local government
and donor agencies).
- Weak enforcement of existing legislation.
- Good
structures
in
place
but
severely
limited
by
logistical capacity of government departments.
- Lack of communication and information sharing to
intended users.
- Poor attitude towards mangrove and wetlands which is
not taken into account in any development planning
processes.
- Donor funds that address short-term solutions to long-
term
problems
with
poor
level
of
private
sector
participation.
• Second-level institutional and stakeholder analysis (dis-
trict assemblies, traditional authorities, local communi-
ties, NGOs and other civil society groups).
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