We have the laws but how is our environment? The disconnect between Ghana’s environmental commitments and institutional capacity to manage urban floods and wetlands

Abstract

This study assessed Ghana’s national and international environmental commitments, laws and policies and the stakeholders’ capacity to protect and manage the wetlands of a metropolis, Kumasi. The methods adopted included field surveys, desk studies (literature review), and interviews with various stakeholders. The results show that despite the sprawling urbanisation, patches of wetlands exist with relatively high diversity. The study further reveals that Ghana is a signatory to many international environmental conventions and treaties irrespective of the required obligations and commitments. However, the translation of the obligations of these conventions and treaties into local laws and policies, their implementation and enforcement have been woefully inadequate. Institutions mandated to oversee these processes are under-resourced or undermined by a multitude of issues. Whilst the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and its planning and hydrological units have the personnel and technical competence to deal with wetland issues, the National Disaster Management Organisation, on the contrary, has the financial and logistical support without the needed technical competence to manage wetland and flood challenges. For a developing country like Ghana, an integrated and collaborative approach between stakeholders is advocated based on a model that focuses on social and technical management of floods and wetlands for implementation by these stakeholders.