Institutions, Groundwater Resources and Climate Change Adaptation in Northern Ghana (MARGA)
PROJECT TYPE
Doctoral Research Project
FUNDING
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Government Scholarship Ghana, Ministry of Education (MoE)
DURATION
10.2016 - 04.2020
BACKGROUND
Ground water resources constitute a major and reliable source of water supply to many people globally. In Ghana, substantial ground water resources exist as many rural areas in the Northern Region of Ghana depend upon ground water for portable water supply: it is considered safer than surface water, easier to develop like hand pumps in remote areas and is reliable even in protracted drought areas among other factors. However, it is revealed that the impact of climate change on water resources will cause Ghana to become a water stress country in 2025 as this will be reflected among other things in a reduction in groundwater recharge of 5-22% for 2020 and 30-40% for 2050. To address this situation, Ghana has designed adaptation measures alongside mitigation, with some existing institutions being relied on to regulate this process. However, most studies tend to focus on the impact of formal institutions in relation to surface water with less attention being given to groundwater resources. Also, traditional ecological knowledge about climate change is considered important in climate change adaptation, yet it has not been well blended with scientific/hydrological knowledge to yield the desired outcomes.
OBJECTIVES
The project aims to contribute to the assessment of the effectiveness of the country’s climate change adaptation policies and programmes and also to contribute to scientific data regarding climate change and groundwater resources in the Atankwidi sub-basin of Volta catchment (Northern Ghana). The project will further highlight issues of trans-boundary aquifer management considering the nature of the study area, for these are also crucial for climate change adaptation in the area of water resources management. The following therefore constitute the specific objectives of the study:
- To assess the nature of impacts that climate change is having on groundwater resources in the Atankwindi Sub-Basin of the White Volta;
- To identify those formal and informal institutions about climate change adaptation which regulate ground water resources and the impact of these institutions on such resources particularly in the Atankwidi sub-basin;
- To identify the methods or ways of integrating traditional ecological knowledge into scientific/hydrological knowledge for the sustainable management and adaptation of groundwater resources in the Atankwidi sub-basin in the wake of the impact of climate change;
- To search for alternative measures to conserve the available water in the Atankwidi sub basin as part of measures to adapting to the impacts of climate change in the Ghana.
Dissertation
-
Lydia Kwoyiga (2019)
Institutions, Groundwater Resources and Climate Change Adaptation in Northern Ghana. Dissertation, Technische Universität Dresden, 2019
Download
Publications (selection)
-
Kwoyiga, L., Stefan, C. (2019)
Institutional Feasibility of Managed Aquifer Recharge in Northeast Ghana. Sustainability, 11(2): 379. doi: 10.3390/su11020379 -
Kwoyiga, L., Stefan, C. (2018)
Groundwater Development for Dry Season Irrigation in North East Ghana: The Place of Local Knowledge. Water, 10(12): 1724. doi: 10.3390/w10121724
Researcher
Dr. Lydia Kwoyiga