Potential for integrated landscape approaches: A review of Ghana’s national environment and development policies

Abstract

• This brief explores Ghana's national environment and development policy climate and whether it is conducive to operationalizing an integrated landscape approach (ILA). • Ghana's policy framework is geared towards large-scale, near-term development, raising questions regarding environmental impacts and related socioeconomic reverberations. Concerns surrounding future development plans stem from Ghana's past and present challenges with competing land uses. • Ghana has many policies and management schemes that support reconciling conservation and development needs; however, barriers to implementation persist. • Challenge areas include: establishing a transparent change logic that is understood and endorsed across sectors and stakeholder groups. This requires identifying common concern entry points and clarifying rights and responsibilities. • We suggest a greater commitment to these principles and the adoption of a landscape approach hold potential to enhance social and ecological outcomes in Ghana. Engaging with Ghana's existing Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) program is an opportunity in this regard. by local stakeholders. However, Sayer et al. (2013) outline ten overarching principles to guide landscape approach implementation (see Figure 1). Some principles are likely to be more relevant than others, depending on the landscape and as needs evolve over time. With the ten principles in mind, it is important to examine whether existing policies enable collaboration between stakeholders and are conducive to a landscape approach. Landscapes are political spaces, meaning current governance structures and policies are indicative of potential challenges and opportunities for operationalizing a landscape approach. As part of the Collaborating to Operationalise Landscape Approaches for Nature, Development and Sustainability (COLANDS) initiative, which seeks to operationalize landscape approaches in Ghana, Indonesia, and Zambia, a review of national environment and development policies was conducted for CIFOR infobriefs provide concise, accurate, peer-reviewed information on current topics in forest research