Natural resource and biodiversity conservation in Ghana: the use of livelihoods support activities to achieve conservation objectives

Abstract

Threats to biodiversity from increasing populations and poverty has resulted in the use of investments in livelihoods support activities as economic incentives for natural resource and biodiversity conservation in Ghana. Examples of such activities include woodlots, beekeeping, snail breeding, and mushroom farming. In order to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of these activities as tools for conservation planning and resource allocation, it is essential to document their use for environmental conservation. This study presents a consolidated documentation of the use of livelihoods support activities for natural resource and biodiversity conservation in Ghana. This documentation includes the specific activities, the number of such interventions since they were first used until 2010, their geographical distribution in the country, and implementation strategies. The methods used in this study include thematic and chronological analysis of conservation project reports, interviews with project managers, collection of primary data on the specific activities, and focus group discussions with participants of livelihoods support activities in rural Ghana. Seventy-one different types of livelihoods support activities belonging to eight categories have been employed for conservation in Ghana since 1993. The majority of these activities were based on non-timber forest products. A chronological trend analysis indicated an increasing tendency to make livelihoods support activities part of conservation projects in Ghana. These activities have become very relevant to Ghana’s current collaborative policy because they are used to buy-in local support for natural resource and biodiversity conservation.