| 1. |
- Armah, Frederick Ato, et al.
(författare)
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Analyzing the Relationship between Objective-Subjective Health Status and Public Perception of Climate Change as a Human Health Risk in Coastal Tanzania
- 2015
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Ingår i: Human and Ecological Risk Assessment. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1080-7039 .- 1549-7860. ; 21:7, s. 1936-1959
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Climate change is considered as the biggest threat to human health in the 21st century. Sub-Saharan Africa, which is the most-at-risk region of the world, is estimated to have a disproportionately large share of the burden of climate change-induced environmental and human health risks. To develop effective adaptations to protect public health, it is essential to consider how individuals perceive and understand the risks, and how they might be willing to change their behaviors in response to them. Using a cross-sectional survey of 1253 individuals in coastal Tanzania we analyzed the relationship between subjective health status (self-reported health) and objective health status on the one hand and perceived health risks of climate change. Generally, higher subjective health status was associated with lower scores on perceived health risks of climate change. Concerning objective health status, the results were varied. Individuals who affirmed that they had been previously diagnosed with hepatitis, skin conditions, or tuberculosis had lower scores on perceived health risks of climate change, unlike their counterparts who affirmed that they had been previously diagnosed with malaria in the past 12 months or had been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. These relationships persist even when biosocial and sociocultural attributes are taken into consideration. The results underscore the complex ways in which objective and subjective health interact with both biosocial and sociocultural factors to shape perceived health risks of climate change.
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| 2. |
- Armah, Frederick Ato, et al.
(författare)
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Monitored versus experience-based perceptions of environmental change: evidence from coastal Tanzania
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences. - 1943-8168. ; 12:2, s. 119-152
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The impacts of climate change are likely to exacerbate many problems that coastal areas already face. In this study, we used multinomial logistic regression to examine human perception of climate change based on a cross-sectional survey of 1253 individuals in coastal regions of Tanzania. This was complemented with time series analysis of 50-year meteorological data. The results indicate that self-rated ability to handle work pressure, self-rated ability to handle personal pressure and unexpected difficulties, age, region and educational status were significant predictors of perceived temperature change unlike ethnicity and gender. A disproportionately large percentage of respondents of all ages indicated that temperature was getting hotter between the past 10 and 30 years. This observation was supported by the time series analysis. Although respondents also alluded to changes in rainfall patterns in the past 10-30 years, time series analysis of rainfall revealed a different scenario except for Mtwara region of Tanzania. Because there is agreement between respondents' perceptions of temperature and available scientific climatic evidence over the 50-year period, this study argues that when meteorological records are incomplete or unavailable, local perceptions of climatic changes can be used to complement scientific climatic evidence. Based on the spatial differentials in climate change perception observed in this study, there is opportunity for a more locally oriented adaptation dimension to climate policy integration, which has hitherto been underserved by both academics and policymakers.
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| 3. |
- Armah, Frederick Ato, et al.
(författare)
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The Gap between Theory and Practice of Stakeholder Participation : The Case of Management of The Korle Lagoon, Ghana
- 2009
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Ingår i: LEAD Journal. - 1746-5893. ; 5:1, s. 73-89
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Participation of stakeholders at the local level is evolving as a mechanism to address complex environmental problems, not least water pollution. Participation has been used as a tool for the economic and social empowerment of settlements within the catchment of the Korle lagoon in Ghana, particularly residents of the Old Fadama community that live in proximity to the lagoon. Using direct observations and survey of stakeholder groups, the paper examines the structure and process of participation of stakeholders in Korle lagoon resource use and water policy formulation and implementation with regard to Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project (KLERP). The results show that exclusion of stakeholders generates conflict and antagonism which hinders the implementation of water resource policy. Alliances of stakeholders in the participatory process have served as pressure points compelling government to negotiate with civil society on behalf of the community. In theory, participation holds promise to address conflict, however in practice, a number of factors that feed into conflict characterise the process of participation in this case, such as ineffective information flow in the community, agency-structure dynamics, historical antecedents among the ethnic groups and low-levels of communication. These gaps jointly undermine the full participation of the Old Fadama community in lagoon management.
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| 4. |
- Ato Armah, Frederick, et al.
(författare)
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The unusual suspects? Perception of underlying causes of anthropogenic climate change in coastal communities in Cambodia and Tanzania
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0964-0568 .- 1360-0559. ; 60:12, s. 2150-2173
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Public perception of the underlying causes of anthropogenic climate change is a complex and subjective issue that is critical to effective risk communication. This issue is important to scientists and policymakers because of the role of individual perceptions in influencing their protective behaviour towards risk (e.g., the adoption of climate risk reduction and mitigation strategies). This cross-sectional study elucidated people's perceptions of the underlying causes of human-induced climate change in coastal communities in Cambodia and Tanzania. The multinomial logistic regression model was based on a geographically and demographically stratified national sample of 3,706 individuals conducted between March and September 2013. The distribution of the fundamental causes of anthropogenic climate change in the pooled sample was deforestation (29%), overpopulation – births and immigration (18%), greenhouse gas emissions (12%), illegal resource extraction (14%), and God's will and transgressing cultural norms (26%). Few people in both countries believed that, the usual suspect, greenhouse gas emission was the fundamental cause of anthropogenic climate change. The number of poor rural residents who indicated that deforestation was the major underlying cause of climate change was approximately three times more than members of the same sub-group who noted that greenhouse gas emissions were the underlying cause of climate change. People who had tertiary education were less likely to consider God's will and transgressing cultural norms as the underlying cause of anthropogenic climate change rather than attributing it to greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, it is imperative to mainstream climate change into educational curricula in both countries.
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| 5. |
- Boda, Chad, et al.
(författare)
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Every farmer is a farmer? : A critical analysis of the emergence and development of Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana
- 2024
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Ingår i: Geoforum. - 1872-9398. ; 150
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Smallholder farmer-based rural social movements have been heralded as a promising source of political power with the potential to effectively promote sustainable trajectories of agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. However, the very early stages of rural social movement building remain understudied, including under what conditions such nascent efforts are likely to lead to effective political influence and foundations for broader collective action. Drawing on insights from organizational studies and resource mobilization theories, we provide an analytical narrative of the emergence and development of a smallholder farmer-based policy advocacy organization, the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG). Through analysis of organizational documents and an extensive open-ended focus group interview with PFAG’s founders, long-term members, and current staff, we discuss how PFAG managed to overcome the “liability of newness” faced by new organizations, and how its resulting organizational structure influences its modes of resource mobilization and thus type and coverage of its advocacy and service delivery activities. Considering this developmental narrative, we elaborate several challenges that PFAG faces in pursuit of its ambitions to expand its influence in Ghanaian agricultural policy and practice. Our findings indicate the need for PFAG to address emerging contradictions in project activities and uneven geographical coverage, manage tensions between advocacy and service delivery objectives and to work towards establishing an umbrella agenda capable of providing for the diverse and evolving needs of their membership base.
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| 6. |
- Boda, Chad, et al.
(författare)
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Every farmer is a farmer? A critical analysis of the emergence and development of Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana
- 2024
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Ingår i: Geoforum. - : Elsevier. - 0016-7185 .- 1872-9398. ; 150
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Smallholder farmer-based rural social movements have been heralded as a promising source of political power with the potential to effectively promote sustainable trajectories of agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. However, the very early stages of rural social movement building remain understudied, including under what conditions such nascent efforts are likely to lead to effective political influence and foundations for broader collective action. Drawing on insights from organizational studies and resource mobilization theories, we provide an analytical narrative of the emergence and development of a smallholder farmer-based policy advocacy organization, the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG). Through analysis of organizational documents and an extensive open-ended focus group interview with PFAG's founders, long-term members, and current staff, we discuss how PFAG managed to overcome the “liability of newness” faced by new organizations, and how its resulting organizational structure influences its modes of resource mobilization and thus type and coverage of its advocacy and service delivery activities. Considering this developmental narrative, we elaborate several challenges that PFAG faces in pursuit of its ambitions to expand its influence in Ghanaian agricultural policy and practice. Our findings indicate the need for PFAG to address emerging contradictions in project activities and uneven geographical coverage, manage tensions between advocacy and service delivery objectives and to work towards establishing an umbrella agenda capable of providing for the diverse and evolving needs of their membership base.
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| 7. |
- Ellinor, Isgren, et al.
(författare)
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Rural social movements and sustainable agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa: towards a collaborative research agenda
- 2023
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Ingår i: Interface. - : Interface journal. - 2009-2431. ; 14:1, s. 22-45
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Agriculture is key to sustainable development globally – particularly in countries where agriculture both accounts for most of the land use and provides a livelihood for most of the population. We map out a collaborative research agenda aimed at tackling the urgent but poorly understood issue of the role of farmer organisations in overcoming political barriers to sustainable and inclusive agricultural development, with particular attention to sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Building on a critical and collaborative dialogue between a diversity of small-scale farmer-led organisations, local activist groups, transnational civil society networks, and heterogeneous academic institutions, our agenda is organized around two key objectives: 1) understanding the conditions for, development of and outcomes from farmer-based political mobilisation in rural areas; and 2) strengthening participatory, action-oriented research capacity for critically engaged research on agrarian questions in SSA. The approach we advocate emphasises the scientific and societal benefits of combining theoretically informed crosscountry comparison of farmer-based rural social movements, with deepening of academic-civil society collaboration
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| 8. |
- Mandere, Nicodemus, et al.
(författare)
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Assessing the contribution of alternative agriculture to poverty reduction and employment creation: A case study of sugar beet cultivation in Kenya
- 2011
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Ingår i: African Journal of Agricultural Research. - 1991-637X. ; 6:2, s. 440-450
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Kenya, the government is promoting high-value and drought resistant crop varieties in an effort to reduce poverty in rural areas. Sugar beet is one such crop. This study was conducted with two objectives: 1) to assess the opportunities and challenges for sugar beet cultivation and adoption in the Nyandarua district of Kenya and 2) to assess whether sugar beet adoption can offer an opportunity for escaping poverty for smallholder farmers in the district. The factors favoring sugar beet cultivation and adoption in the district include: adequate land area suitable for sugar beet cultivation and the high sugar beet yield that can be attained per unit suitable land area, farmers' awareness of the positive aspects of sugar beet cultivation, and the willingness of many farmers to grow the sugar beet crop. Notwithstanding these favorable conditions, some socio-economic factors-mainly the affordability of sugar beet production and possible lack of appropriate farming technologies, will present challenges to widespread sugar beet adoption, particularly to those farmers in the low-and medium-income categories. The sugar beet profit analysis showed that depending on the market price, sugar beet can potentially increase household net income. However, since the majority of households are in the low-and medium-income categories, for sugar beet to pull the smallholder farmers out of poverty, interventions from government and other stakeholders is of vital necessity. The impact of sugar beet adoption and cultivation will vary from household to household. Those households within the high-income category who can raise the required start up capital are likely to benefit, while the low-and medium-income households may not, which is true for any new crop with high start up costs. Alternative agriculture alone is therefore not a sufficient strategy to address the problems of poverty and unemployment. Any successful strategy to address these issues must be broad-based, and include alternative agriculture and other growth and development strategies. Provision for the entire necessary infrastructure should precede or accompany all of these strategies in order to optimize implementation benefits.
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| 9. |
- Tambang, Yengoh Genesis, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of Large-Scale Acquisition on Food Insecurity in Sierra Leone
- 2015
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 7:7, s. 9505-9539
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The recent phenomenon of large-scale acquisition of land for a variety of investment purposes has raised deep concerns over the food security, livelihood and socio-economic development of communities in many regions of the developing world. This study set out to investigate the food security outcomes of land acquisitions in northern Sierra Leone. Using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research methods, the study measures the severity of food insecurity and hunger, compares the situation of food security before and after the onset of operations of a land investing company, analyzes the food security implications of producing own food versus depending on wage labour for household food needs, and evaluates initiatives put in place by the land investing company to mitigate its food insecurity footprint. Results show an increase in the severity of food insecurity and hunger. Household income from agricultural production has fallen. Employment by the land investing company is limited in terms of the number of people it employs relative to the population of communities in which it operates. Also, wages from employment by the company cannot meet the staple food needs of its employees. The programme that has been put in place by the company to mitigate its food insecurity footprint is failing because of a host of reasons that relate to organization and power relations. In conclusion, rural people are better off producing their own food than depending on the corporate structure of land investment companies. Governments should provide an enabling framework to accommodate this food security need, both in land investment operations that are ongoing and in those that are yet to operate.
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| 10. |
- Tambang, Yengoh Genesis, et al.
(författare)
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Factors of vulnerability: How large-scale land acquisitions take advantage of local and national weaknesses in Sierra Leone
- 2016
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Ingår i: Land Use Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0264-8377. ; 50, s. 328-340
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Enticing economic benefits for host nations and the notion of large areas of land considered available are often put forward as the main reasons for large-scale land acquisition in many areas of sub-Saharan Africa. However, country-level datasets of land acquisitions seem to indicate a clear divide between a majority of countries engaged in land acquisitions as investors and those involved as targets. We posit that there are socio-economic and governance factors that make the engagement between targets of land acquisitions and investors both unequal and attractive to large-scale investments. We then ask the question: what are the factors that make communities vulnerable to an unequal engagement with large-scale land-investing interests in Sierra Leone? We explore this question using local-level socio-economic data of households and communities in two settings where land acquisitions have occurred in Sierra Leone. We find that socio-economic characteristics of local populations, such as levels of education, the powerful role of traditional chiefs and corruption, make these areas easier targets for such land investments. Investors also exploit the poor economic situation of local areas by making alluring promises of development opportunities. The vulnerability of local people to land investors is further undermined by poor governance at the national level and external politico-financial interest in favor of such investments. Local populations are vulnerable to organized campaigns of land acquisitions by multi-national companies. Proper legal and institutional frameworks are required to protect local interests in these land deals. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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