Abstract
In the years ahead, meeting the challenges of food security in a water scarce world will require drastic changes in the way water resources are managed. Accordingly, Ghana's water sector has seen tremendous changes over the years culminating in the 2007 National Water Policy. This paper evaluates the policy to highlight its strengths and weaknesses, to inform possible future review and guide new policy development in developing countries or troubleshoot existing policies. It draws on a framework based on three thematic areas distilled from global water policy development guidelines. Using a 3-point Likert scale, sub-thematic components are ranked and used to quantitatively compute the theme-specific scores (TSS) and the overall performance (OP) of the policy. Per the study findings, cross-cutting water policy issues including integrated water resources management, climate change adaptation and gender mainstreaming are more highlighted (TSS = 67%) than country-specific water management issues (TSS = 50%). Specifically, the policy neglects key national issues including protection of coastal regions from the onslaught of sea waves, and water resource protection against oil spills, and its institutional framework for implementation excludes key sector institutions. Generally, the policy addresses most pertinent issues in the water sector (OP = 64%) and areas for improvement are further discussed in the paper.
Highlights
Estimates provided by the recently published World Water Development Report point out that, about three quarters of the Arab population live below the water scarcity level of 1,000 m3 per capita per year owing to population growth and increasing socio-economic pressures (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2015)
The policy draws inspiration from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) whilst at the regional and national levels, it is underpinned by the African Water Vision 2025 of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) II, respectively (Figure 1)
The study results are presented and further discussed under this section. It analyses the structure of the Ghana National Water Policy (GNWP) such as the formatting style, clarity of language and attractiveness
Summary
A paradigm shift is urgently needed in the way water resources are managed globally in order to address the current and future water crisis. The outcomes of this paper are intended to provide a point of departure for a possible future review of the policy to make it respond appropriately to current and imminent national water management issues. It will be useful for the development of national water policies in other developing countries and inform review of existing water policies based on contextual national issues pertaining to the country. The policy draws inspiration from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) whilst at the regional and national levels, it is underpinned by the African Water Vision 2025 of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) II, respectively (Figure 1)
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