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| Local Resource Management in the Forest-Savanna Transition Zone: the Case of Wenchi District, Ghana |
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Reference |
| Seth Afikorah-Danquah, "Local Resource Management in the Forest-Savanna Transition Zone: the Case of Wenchi District, Ghana", Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana |
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Introduction to the Institution |
| In the forest-savanna transition zone of Ghana, environmental issues have long been a focus of policy attention. This case study examines interactions between people and vegetation change in the Wenchi area of Brong Ahafo region, part of the northern forest-savanna transitionzone, in the context of both ecological and policy debates about the nature of environmental problems there. A variety of ethnic groups live within borders of Wenchi district of Ghana. These groups not only speak different languages and are culturally diverse, but also practise different production regimes, varying by technology, crop and scale: ranging from small-scale subsistence to large-scale monocropping farming. Other forms of social difference - by gender, age, position in the area's matrilineal kinship and political organisation, and so on - cross-cut linguistic differences, and are associated with a wide variety of livelihood strategies in which food cropping is combined with the collection and trade of non-timber forest and savanna products. |
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Rules for Management
of the Institution |
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(a) Boundary Rules |
| Spatial boundaries: Savanna Transition Zone, Wenchi District, GhanaSocial boundaries: A variety of ethnic groups live within this region. Apart from the majority Akanspeaking Brongs (generally considered as the land owners), there are the Hausa, Dagomba, Grunshi, Lobi-Dagarti and the Sissala who have migrated from the northern savanna regions. 'Landowners' are the original, largely Brong-speaking Akan inhabitants of the Wenchi area. Irrespective of the number of years a stranger has been settled in the area, he or she is still considered a stranger, holding low status in local kinship-based political organisation. |
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(b) Governance
rules |
| 1) Rights over land are a fundamental endowment for food cropping. The exploitation of land now involves individual rights based on customary laws. 2) Although by law government holds all land in Ghana in trust on behalf of the people, stools and traditional chiefs are regarded as the custodians of the land and are thus responsible for the allocation of land within their area of jurisdiction.3) The institution of nnoboa (co-operative work parties) is significant when particularly demanding agricultural tasks are to be undertaken. 4) All rights to trees and timber in Ghana are vested in the President in trust for the stools. Hence, in order to gain rights of access to trees, people are formally required to negotiate licences permits with the chiefs, the Forest Department and the District Assembly |
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(c) Resource Allocation |
| 1) Different groups practise different production regimes, varying by technology, crop and scale: ranging from small-scale subsistence to large-scale monocropping farming2) In Landowners, individuals, on the basis of membership of a family or lineage group, also have usufruct rights over communal, family or lineage land. Marriage is another important institution which can enable in-married spouses to have relatively secure access to land. Tenancy arrangements, including sharecropping, are other channels through which landless people, or those who do not have sufficient land, are able to gain rights of access over land. Others acquire land through land gifts.3) Immigrants have to obtain rights of access to land through tenancy agreements, ranging from different types of sharecropping to leaseholds involving payments in cash. They generally prefer - and are frequently allocated - savanna woodland sites.4) Charcoal production for commercial sale is dominated by the immigrant Sissala group. Individuals belonging to the stool families and other large landowners often engage in large-scale charcoal production. For domestic consumption, it is the responsibility of women, and particularly children, to gather and carry fuelwood. Domestic fuel collection generally uses dead wood and has little overall effect on tree cover |
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Conflict Resolution Mechanism |
| 1) Irrespective of the number of years a stranger has been settled in the area, he or she is still considered a stranger. Landowners have labeled immigrants as 'anti forest' or 'savanna people2) Currently, there is significant conflict between customary tenure arrangements and government legislation over tree tenure. People without some form of tenure security have little incentive for long-term environmental management.3) There are conflicts between tobacco farmers, charcoal producers, the Forest Department and landowners over the rights to natural trees in farms and over compensation for damaged crops |
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Problems Faced by Institution |
| 1) The practice of leaving trees standing in fields has tended to be undermined by government legislation on tree tenure, which, by designating such trees as state-controlled, gives farmers little incentive to protect them. 2) As immigrant farmers depend on short-term leaseholds involving high tenancy fees, they frequently feel insecure in terms of land tenure. This has encouraged heavy short-term exploitation of the land. They dont make much efforts to plant trees, in contrast to landowners3) The system of hoeing followed by immigrants is believed to be associated with deforestation and further destruction of the seed stock of trees and shrubs in the soil 4) Large-scale charcoal production is seen as a major driving force behind deforestation in this ecological zone |
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Country |
| Ghana (Wenchi District) |
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Region |
| Ecologically, the southern part of the Wenchi district largely comprises dry semi-deciduous forest, while the northern part consists of a mosaic of gallery forests and forest patches in more-or-less wooded savanna grassland. |
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