Land Use Scenario Modeling Based on Local Knowledge for the Provision of Ecosystem Services in Northern Ghana

Christine Fürst,Hongmi Koo,Janina Kleemann

doi:10.3390/land7020059

Christine Fürst, Hongmi Koo + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/land7020059

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Abstract

The understanding of multiple effects by possible future development is essential for adapted land use planning. This study assessed the potential of land use scenarios for the provision of ecosystem services using local knowledge in two districts of northern Ghana. Local knowledge was gathered through surveys with extension officers, who are regarded as eligible knowledge holders for agricultural land use. Firstly, ecosystem services that were perceived as important by the stakeholders were identified, namely food, fodder, energy, construction materials, marketable products, water provision, and erosion control. Quantitative indicators were then determined to analyze the capacity of land use types to supply the ecosystem services. Land use scenarios were developed based on their applicability and capacity to mitigate climate change impacts. The perception of stakeholders was applied to evaluate changes in ecosystem services provision by the scenarios. A modeling approach for a spatially explicit simulation was used to assess the potential to provide ecosystem services at a district level. The results reflected the different trade-offs and synergies between ecosystem services of each scenario, depending on the district. Along with the local perception, characteristics of land use patterns also influenced the regional potential of ecosystem services provision.

Highlights

In West Africa, the majority of farmers rely on small-scale subsistence farming that produces most of the staple crops through rain-fed agriculture [1,2,3]
Land use scenarios were identified together with the stakeholders as feasible options, whichfifteen were categorized as crop intercropping, afforestation/agroforestry, and soil conservation options, which were categorized as crop intercropping, afforestation/agroforestry, and from soil (Table 3)
Scenarios were expressed on the basis of the currently existing land use types, since the stakeholders perceived cereal monocropping to cereal-dominant intercropping), since the stakeholders perceived a complete change of land use types as unlikely

Summary

Introduction

In West Africa, the majority of farmers rely on small-scale subsistence farming that produces most of the staple crops through rain-fed agriculture [1,2,3]. Adapted land use planning and resource management for avoiding unfavorable environmental conditions becomes important [5]. The Ghana Environmental Protection Council (1988) formerly expressed the necessity for coordinated and comprehensive land management and planning strategies [6]. It stipulated principles of land management as increasing crop yields while maintaining ecosystems and ecological processes, and encouraging public participation in decision-making, in order to address challenges in environmental and resource management due to land pressure. Land use planning in Ghana is authorized and led by the local government as the basic administrative unit that has been criticized to implement overly general and haphazard schemes to solve pressing issues, rather than fostering proactive and adaptive planning [7,8,9].

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