Towards adaptive commons: A case study of agro-pastoral dams in Northern Ghana

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

© 2019 by the authors.Agro-pastoral dams (APDs) are an increasingly popular method of adaptation interventions improving communal water supply in ruralWest Africa. However, APDs are often constructed in areas where culturally heterogeneous pastoralists and farmers compete for similar land and water resources. Lifting open access water abundance is likely to change if not intensify ongoing tensions between farmers and settling Fulani herders. The extent of collective action and inclusivity of 6 APDs in Northern Ghana are analysed, combining theory from common-pool resource management and equity and justice in climate change adaptation into a proposed Inclusive Collective Action (ICA) model. Practically, the article demonstrates that neither fully excluding Fulani pastoralists nor making dams openly accessible results in inclusive APD usage and management where collective action is successful, and more dynamic forms of regional inclusion and exclusion are needed. Theoretically, the article identifies some of the limitations of applying the enabling conditions for collective action of common-pool resource theory as it tends to overlook negative aspects of excluding certain user groups in culturally heterogeneous contexts from managing and using a commons.
Original languageEnglish
Article number319
JournalSustainability (Switzerland)
Volume11
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Jan 2019
Externally publishedYes

Funding

Funding: This research received no external funding. The APC was funded by Utrecht University, department of Human Geography and Planning. Acknowledgments: The research in the Upper West District of Ghana was part of a research project entitled Towards Inclusive Climate Change Interventions (TICCI), which was part of a programme called Conflict and Cooperation over the Management of Climate Change (CCMCC), funded by the Depart for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom, through the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO-WOTRO). I would like to thank Utrecht University supervisor Sebastiaan and the staff of Community Development Alliance (CDA) Ghana for all the support before, during and after the fieldwork. I would also like to express my gratitude to all the farmers and pastoralists who took the time to participate in the research. The research in the Upper West District of Ghana was part of a research project entitled Towards Inclusive Climate Change Interventions (TICCI), which was part of a programme called Conflict and Cooperation over the Management of Climate Change (CCMCC), funded by the Depart for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom, through the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO-WOTRO). I would like to thank Utrecht University supervisor Sebastiaan and the staff of Community Development Alliance (CDA) Ghana for all the support before, during and after the fieldwork. I would also like to express my gratitude to all the farmers and pastoralists who took the time to participate in the research. This research received no external funding. The APC was funded by Utrecht University, department of Human Geography and Planning.

FundersFunder number
Depart for International Development
NWO-WOTRO
Universiteit Utrecht
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Association for Progressive Communications

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