Strategies to combat desertification in Northern Region of Ghana: The role of Environmental Protection Agency

Abstract

Desertification has long been recognized as a major environmental hazard with adverse impacts on the livelihoods of people in the affected regions. Desertification, according to article 1(a) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) refers to land degradation in arid, semi arid and sub-humid areas resulting from various factors including climatic variation and human activities. Although all continents have areas where desertification is occurring, the effects depend on the specific natural, socio-economic features of the area concerned. In many parts of Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, it has contributed to the increasing poverty of the people and the gradual but irreversible degradation of the ecosystem. It is estimated that sub-Saharan Africa will lose two-thirds of its arable lands by the year 2025 if strategies are not put in place to combat desertification. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the roles of Environmental Protection Agency in combating desertification in Northern Region of Ghana as envisaged in the EPA Act 490 and the LI 1652. The study made use of methodological triangulation in sourcing data for the research. By this method, secondary data and satellite imagery of the study area were sourced from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of and other institutions in the study area were triangulated with data collected from research participants. The aim was to analyse how remote sensing and GIS satellite images have been used by the Environmental Protection Agency to monitor desertification in northern region of Ghana and the challenges they faced thereon. The results revealed that communities most affected with the threat of desertification in the metropolis are those that shares boundary with the Upper East Region. It also indicated that the major causes of desertification in the metropolis are poverty, land degradation, migration and drought representing 33.3, 30.7, 22.7 and 13.3%, respectively. The results also showed that despite the numerous challenges facing the EPA, they still manage to formulate various interventions and organize programmes with the aim of combating desertification in the metropolis. It is therefore recommended that, EPA should improve on their public education programmes in both the official and local languages to enable the people understand their programmes. This will ensure the maximum participation of the people in helping the course of desertification.

Keywords: Environmental Protection Agency, agency, desertification, land degradation, economics, drought, northern region.