Coping with tidal waves: households and institutional financing support mechanisms for climate resilience in storm ravaged coastal communities in Ghana

The declining marine fish stocks likely due to climate change and other environmental stressors have severe effects on livelihoods of small scale coastal fishing communities. As a result, development of supplementary livelihood has become relevant in recent times as a way of reducing hunger and creating employment. There have been preliminary studies conducted to identify viable aquaculture techniques that will increase the yield (growth rate and size) of mangrove oysters as a means of supplementary livelihood for coastal communities in Ghana. As part of an extended study, this paper assesses the status of oyster fishery in a coastal community and the growth of oysters in the nearby lagoon. We assessed the socio-economic characteristics of the fishery, sizes sold at the market and the appropriate period required to possibly culture the species. An interview guide and oysters purchased from the local market were used to gather information on the status of the fishery while coconut cultches were used to collect oyster spat for culture in the Nakwa lagoon. The results indicated that 60 % of the respondents harvested the oyster for sale, consumption or both. The oysters were available all year round although the sizes and quantity harvested were reported to be reducing in recent times. The sizes of oysters found in the market could be obtained within seven months of culture and with better meat condition. Based on the fast growth rate, high demand and interest of respondents to culture the species, the potential for formal oyster farming at Nakwa is high with the possibility of extending lessons learnt to other coastal communities in Ghana.

The frequency of hypertension in Ghana has risen dramatically in recent decades. Inadequate diagnosis and inappropriate care of diagnosed cases has led to increased mortality and morbidity from poor blood pressure control and associated consequences, especially in areas with low socioeconomic status. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of hypertension and its determinants in underserved coastal communities in Ghana. This screening survey is part of a quasi-experimental initiative in 8 coastal towns to detect hypertension patients and connect them to local care. The initial survey examined 10000 consenting individuals aged 18years and older in these localities. Poisson regression model was used to determine the associations of socioeconomic factors with hypertension occurrence. The median age of the study participants was 38years, majority being women (65.3%). The overall age-standardized hypertension rate was 26.0% (95% CI: 25.1-26.9), with significant variability across subdistricts and communities ranging from 22.0% (95% CI: 20.1-23.8) in Ga South to 32.7% (95% CI: 30.2-35.2) in Krowor. The prevalence of hypertension decreased with increasing levels of monthly income with those earning GHC 1501-2000 having the lowest adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR, 0.64; 95% CI: 0.49-0.84). Besides age, female sex (aPR, 1.18; 95% CI: 1.08-1.28), being married (aPR, 1.19; 95% CI: 1.05-1.35), and alcohol consumption (aPR, 1.23; 95% CI: 1.13-1.35), were significantly associated with increased prevalence of hypertension. The coastal communities in Ghana are highly affected by hypertension with a remarkably high prevalence in women. Tailored public health strategies such as education on lifestyle modification, creation of recreational areas, use of telemedicine and mobile applications for monitoring, and follow-up may help to decrease the risk of hypertension and its complications in these communities.

Groundwater governance and a snapshot of associated issues in selected coastal communities in Ghana

A good understanding of human growth and development helps in the smooth transition of an individual from one stage to another. One of such stages is adolescence, which presents a lot of challenges as well as opportunities. There are differences in the extent to which families encourage conversation, the extent to which they demand conformity to family values as well as the extent to which families pass down strongly held family values from one generation to another, regarding changes that occur during adolescence. The study examines Parent-Child Communication Patterns between parents and adolescents in coastal communities in Ghana. Also, the study explored the effects of parent-child communication related to sexual and reproductive health in improving adolescent sexual reproductive health practices in Ghana. Data was collected from 300 adolescents in selected coastal communities within the Cape Coast Metropolis in Ghana. We found that many parents in the coastal communities within the Cape Coast Metropolis are unable to transmit SRH information to their children. The findings also revealed that level of formal education influenced parents’ ability to transmit SRH information to adolescents and exposes poor parent-adolescent relationship regarding SRH information in the communities studied. Aside from contributing to literature and informing policy directions on family communication patterns regarding adolescent SRH, the study brings more insight on how parents and their adolescents along coastal communities in Cape Coast, Ghana communicate SRH issues. Implications for counselling are outlined.

New York City Panel on Climate Change 2015 Report. Conclusions and recommendations.

Although there have been a lot of studies on climate change adaptation, the cultural dimension has generally been left out of the debate. This study uses household surveys and focus group discussion to methodically assess cultural dimensions (using Hofstede) of communities, and how these dimensions influence preference for adaptation options to floods in a coastal settlement (James Town) and a savannah community (Dungu) in Ghana. The results show that first, inequalities in rank and traditional hierarchical governance structures in Dungu are relatively lower than in James Town, second, that there is considerable gender bias in favour of males in Dungu, third, there is high level of avoidance of unstructured and unpredictable situations in both communities, fourth, members in both communities are at present very willing to sacrifice their time and resources in order to achieve a better life in the future, and fifth, community members in Dungu perceive themselves as a single unit, and will do their best to come to the aid of members who need help during environmental disasters. The analysis further shows that cultural dimensions in the two communities generally influence the choice of adaptation options to floods. It has been recommended that specific local research such as this one which provides opportunities to analyse the cultural dimensions of adaptation within communities should be encouraged. This is because an understanding of the local cultural context has the potential to assist with the design of effective adaptation options in communities.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to contribute to the discourse on livelihood access and challenges of fisherfolks and farmers within coastal communities in Ghana. Insights from such studies can help to create win-win outcomes between communities and oil companies and give the latter social license to operate. Also, it will help to identify the existing knowledge gaps that still need to be filled and contribute to the overall management of Ghana’s oil resources. It will further contribute to the government’s livelihood diversification programs in oil-producing communities.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed the use of qualitative research paradigm to collect primary data in oil- and gas-producing communities in the Western Region of Ghana. Specifically, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted among diverse stakeholders.FindingsFindings from the study show that several people and households along the coast of Ghana’s Western Region depend on the fishing industry as their livelihoods. However, fisherfolks are facing several challenges due to oil production. For instance, the quantity of fish harvest has reduced drastically since oil production started in 2010. Farming activities have also been adversely affected. The study has unearthed that the existing social and economic infrastructure are very limited to support the development of the coastal communities in Ghana’s Western Region. The study suggests that to deal with some of the challenges faced by coastal communities, livelihood diversification programs should be introduced.Research limitations/implicationsNot every community within the oil and gas areas in the Western Region was covered. Future work will address this limitation.Practical implicationsThe study has revealed that the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies need to expedite the process of conducting a comprehensive needs assessment of communities and capture them in their medium-term development plans.Social implicationsThe corporate social responsibility programs will create win-win outcomes between oil companies and communities.Originality/valueThe study is an original piece of work with data collected from the field. The study will contribute to the efficient management of natural resources in Ghana and other developing countries.

We, the Editor and the Publisher of the journal, Local Environment, have retracted the following article: Letsyo, E. (2025). From policy to practice: mainstreaming climate change strategies into local development plan of coastal communities in Ghana—evidence from Effutu Municipal Assembly. Local Environment, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2025.2502999 Since publication, we have been made aware that there are errors in the references cited in this article. The following references could not be found or verified: Adger, W. N., K. Brown, and E. L. Tompkins. 2020. “Health Implications of Climate Change Adaptation in Coastal Communities: A Systematic Review.” Climate and Development 12 (4): 318–332. Araos, M., L. Berrang-Ford, J. D. Ford, S. E. Austin, R. Biesbroek, and A. Lesnikowski. 2019. “Climate Change Adaptation Infrastructure in Coastal Municipalities: Institutional Challenges and Opportunities.” Global Environmental Change 54:265–279. Brown, C., E. Seville, and J. Vargo. 2021. “Measuring and Enhancing Resilience in Local Governance: Challenges and Opportunities.” Environmental Science & Policy 118:127–138. Chen, C., I. Noble, J. Hellmann, J. Coffee, M. Murillo, and N. Chawla. 2021. “Climate Adaptation Strategies in Coastal Regions: Best Practices, Constraints and Lessons Learned.” Sustainability Science 16 (5): 1189–1209. Cobbinah, Patrick B., and George K. Anane. 2015. “Climate Change and Urban Planning in Ghana: Towards a Sustainable future.” Journal of Urban Management 4 (2): 89–102. Kuhl, Lauren, Van Maanen Kimberly, and Steven Scyphers. 2020. “Implementing Coastal Adaptation: Lessons from UNFCCC-Funded Projects.” Global Environmental Change 63:Article 102073 Kumar, P. 2023. “Integration of Climate Change Policies in Local Governance: A Comparative Analysis of Coastal Communities.” Journal of Environmental Management 296:114821. Martinez, R. 2023. “Theoretical Frameworks for Climate Governance at Local Levels: Emerging Perspectives and Applications.” Environmental Politics 32 (3): 445–467. Ranganathan, Janet, Daniel Vennard, Richard Waite, and Brian Lipinski. 2010. “Mainstreaming Climate Change Into Development Planning: Lessons from the Field.” World Resources Institute Working Paper. Thompson, J. P., S. Hughes, and D. Reckien. 2021. “Challenges to Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation in Local Governments: A Multi-Case Study Analysis.” Urban Climate 36:100781. Williams, D. S., S. Rosendo, O. Sadasing, and L. Celliers. 2022. “Alternative Livelihood Strategies in Coastal Communities: Adaptation Responses to Climate Change.” Ocean & Coastal Management 215:105968. While the author cooperated with the investigation and provided information in response to our queries, our concerns remain. As the editorial team no longer have confidence in the reported conclusions within the article, the decision has been made to retract the article. The author does not agree with this retraction. We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the COPE guidelines. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as 'Retracted’.

It is argued that the environment can now be considered a security issue because of the increasingly unsustainable features of modern development. The concept of security is evolving to embrace interlocking elements of military security, humanitarian security, economic security and environmental security. The fact that many Navies of the world often find themselves deployed on humanitarian assistance, disaster relief or fisheries protection reflects the changing concept of security within the coastal zone. Environmental security is described as the capability to protect communities and their natural environments from threats of: (1) environmental asset scarcity arising through environmental degradation or depletion, (2) environmental risks arising from natural hazards or technological disasters and, (3) environment related tensions and conflicts. Threats may include, but not be restricted to, emergencies arising from natural disasters (tsunami, earthquake, extreme weather, coastal flooding, landslide, erosion) major accidents (oil spill, ship casualty), illegal discharges and bilge dumping, illegal fishing, trafficking (people, endangered species, waste, drugs and contraband), and robbery at sea, piracy or civil unrest. Notwithstanding what have been termed ‘creeping disasters’, namely sea level rise and drought. When considering how we protect communities against environmental risk we should first recognize that the impact of hazards is often unique to the locations at which they occur. Secondly we should acknowledge that we are unlikely to be able to accurately predict the probability of a disaster occurring at any particular place or time. Therefore * BMT Asia Pacific (Singapore) vulnerability assessments are proposed as being an essential tool for communities to exploit in developing capacity to mitigate and recover from the impact of disasters. It is proposed that the spatial analysis of vulnerability will reveal a communities natural resilience to disaster and allow them to exploit early warning systems through efficient mitigation of a range of threats. Vulnerability mapping may be coupled with routine surveillance using Earth Observation (EO) to strengthen early warning systems within the coastal zone. For remote sensing to be fully exploited in protecting communities a thorough examination of the information available from EO data is required in relation to disaster risk. Firstly, indicators need to be developed that describe the social, economic and environmental assets (quality of life capital) and infrastructure at risk within a community. Secondly, indicators need to be developed from EO data to describe the vulnerability and resilience of each asset to disaster risk. This would allow a mosaic of assets to be built that describe a communities overall resilience to hazards (e.g. coastal flooding, mudslides or the threat of oil spill from major accidents). Finally, coastal surveillance and information dissemination infrastructures need to be commissioned for the routine surveillance of threats, early warning and historical analysis of coastal hazards. ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY Responses to the Issue of Environmental Security The vision of sustainable coastal communities and the achievement of the millennium development goals are undermined by the threat of illegal or negligent human activity and natural disasters. Environmental crimes and environmental emergencies or catastrophes are increasingly being recognized as breaches of environmental security. Causes may © IPA, 2011 30th Annual Convention Proceedings (Volume 2), 2005

Ex situ adaptation in the form of relocation has become inevitable in some low-lying coastal zones where other adaptation strategies become impractical or uneconomical. Although relocation of coastal low-lying communities is anticipated globally, little is still known about the factors that influence household-level adoption. This study draws on an extended version of Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to assess the factors influencing the relocation intention of three highly vulnerable coastal rural communities in Ghana. A total of 359 household heads were randomly selected for a questionnaire survey. The study employed binary logistic regression to identify key factors that influence residents’ readiness to relocate. The results indicated that cognitive and compositional factors were more important than contextual factors in explaining the intention to relocate among coastal rural communities in Ghana. However, contextual factors mediated or attenuated the influence of cognitive and compositional factors on relocation intention. Based on the findings, this study advocates for intensive education on the effects of future sea-level rise impacts on communities as well as structural and non-structural measures to improve the socio-economic capacity of rural communities.

Fish is readily available to fishing communities. Given the high nutritional value of fish, these communities are expected to have better nutritional status, compared to non-fishing communities. However, this assumption is not well studied across coastal fishing communities in Ghana. Hence, this cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the nutritional status, dietary patterns, and fish consumption of children living in coastal fishing communities in Ghana. Nutritional status of 384 randomly selected children was assessed using the mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) measurement. MUAC less than 12.5 cm was used as the cutoff to identify malnourished children. Food and fish consumption patterns were assessed using an adopted and pretested food frequency questionnaire. The findings showed a prevalence of 0.5% wasting among surveyed children. The mean dietary diversity score (DDS) of the study participants was 4.3 ± 1.2. The mean DDS of the children of fisher mothers was less than that of the children of the female caregivers who are involved in other occupations. However, no significant difference was observed in the DDS across the coastal regions. Seventy eight percent of the children who participated in the study consumed an adequately diversified diet, and more than 40 different small fish species were consumed across the four coastal regions. The average median weekly fish intake among the children in the study sample was 213 (64–468) g. Considering that one-third of the employed respondents were fisherfolk, coupled with the availability of a great diversity of small fish in the communities, the findings of our study suggest that there is great potential to incorporate small fish into strategic interventions aimed at improving nutrition, food security, and achieving economic sustainability in these communities.

India has a long coastline of about 7,517 km. with 20% occupying the coastal area. Due to increase in population; people have been exploring the possibility of developmental opportunities in the coastal areas. Tsunami in 2004 was another unexpected natural catastrophe which badly affected many South Indian coastal states especially the state of Tamil Nadu. Coastal communities here are increasingly at risk from many chronic and episodic coastal hazards which threaten the health and stability of coastal ecosystems and communities. The degradation of the coastal environment from chronic human-induced actions threaten food security, livelihoods, the overall economic development and well being of coastal communities. Disasters big or small affecting the coastal communities are reminders that, coastal communities are not resilient to normally recurring hazards. This fact has raised the question of developing community resilience since the most effective approach to reducing the long-term impact of coastal hazards would be to enhance capacities of coastal communities through initiatives which are aimed at ensuring a sustainable recovery in the aftermath of a disaster as well as reducing people’s vulnerability to these disasters. Eight elements of resilience i.e., Governance, Coastal Resource Management, Land Use and Structural Design, Society and Economy, Risk Knowledge, Warning and Evacuation, Emergency Response and Disaster Recovery have been identified which are considered essential to reduce risk from coastal hazards, accelerate recovery from disaster events, and adapt to changing conditions by the affected community. In this paper, all the eight resilience elements have been examined with respect to vulnerability and capacity assessment in selected Tsunami (2004) affected districts in the state of Tamil Nadu, India in order to identify the extent of resilience.

Introduction to 'The Unusual Suspects in Climate Change Adaptation – Small Coastal Cities and Towns' Special Issue

<p>The Thai-coast project aims to improve scientific understanding of the vulnerability of Thailand's shoreline and coastal communities to hydro-meteorological hazards, including storms, floods and coastal erosion, under future climate change scenarios. Coastal erosion and flooding affect more than 11 million people living in Thailand’s coastal zone communities (17% of the country's population). Each year erosion causes Thailand to lose 30 km<sup>2</sup> of coastal land (Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment). Sea level is predicted to rise by 1 metre in the next 40 -100 years, impacting at least 3,200 km<sup>2</sup> of coastal land, through erosion and flooding, at a potential financial cost to Thailand of 3 billion baht [~ £70 million; Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning]. We address an urgent need to enhance the resilience and adaptation potential of coastal communities, applying scientific research to inform more robust and cost-effective governance and institutional arrangements.</p><p>The Thai-coast project has established causal links between climate change, erosion and flooding and is using this information to assess natural and social processes’ interactions to enhance coastal community resilience and future sustainability. We focus on two study areas, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province and Krabi Province, selected on the basis of DMCR coastal erosion data and with contrasting natural and socio-economic characteristics. Using a multidisciplinary approach, we integrate climate science, geomorphology, socio-economics, health and wellbeing science and geo-information technology to improve understanding of hydro-meteorological hazard occurrence, their physical and socioeconomic, health and wellbeing impacts on Thailand's coastal zone and the ways in which governance and institutional arrangements mitigate their impact. Examining future scenarios of climate change hydrometeorology, coastal landform and land use change scenarios we have assessed and modelled impacts (erosion, flooding, coastal community vulnerability), and population and community adaptation. Our collaborative team of natural and social scientists, from UK, US and Thai research institutions work closely with Thai Government and UK and Thai industry partners to ensure that results are policy and practice-relevant.</p><p>Key findings indicate that erosion and accretion rates are more dramatic on mangrove coastlines (-34.5 and 21.7 m/year) compared with sandy coastlines (-4.1 and 4 m/year). Modelled future climate changes indicate more extended and severe floods in Southern Thailand with the risk of flash floods increasing significantly. Socio-economic resilience is generally higher in more urbanized areas but there are greater variations amongst subdistricts. Different communities within the coastal regions have different levels of resilience and adopt different coping strategies when faced with emergency situations. When physical and socio-economic indices are compared, Krabi Province has a higher level of physical vulnerability than Nakhon Si Thammarat (NST), whilst NST is has a higher level of socio-economic vulnerability than Krabi.  When physical and socio-economic factors are combined to generate the Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI), the results show that the two provinces have relatively comparable CVI despite the underlying variability in physical and socio-economic resilience.</p>

BackgroundPublic health interventions are essential to prevent a long tail of costly, avoidable and worsening ill health in coastal communities following the COVID-19 pandemic, yet no research exists to guide...