In Sub-Saharan African countries, governments are increasingly devolving natural resource management from central administration to the local government level as a trend toward subsidiarity. In parallel, efforts to implement formalization processes have resulted in a puzzling institutional arena, wherein mixed actors are struggling to influence the paths of institutional change and the associated distribution of land and land-related resources. Relying on political ecology and new institutionalism in social anthropology, we investigate how the decentralization of formalization of rights in artisanal and small-scale gold mining can lead to paradoxical outcomes, often negatively impacting social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Two comparative case studies are performed in Ghana. Our results show that the negative effects of formalization efforts for resource end users are to be understood in the broad context of actors’ repositioning strategies following the selective implementation of decentralization. The authors conclude that increasing the power of the central government and line ministries to control local resources can influence the disenfranchisement of local people’s participation and control of natural resources, resulting in a relentless environmental crisis.
Decentralization policy forms part of a broader global ideology and effort of the international donor community in favor of subsidiarity and local participation, and represents a paradigm shift from top-down command-and-control systems. Since 2003, the formalization of property rights through titling became an integral component of decentralized land administration efforts in Ghana. The creation of new forms of local government structures and the related changes in the distribution of responsibilities between different levels of government have an impact on natural resource management, the allocation of rights, and the unequal distribution of powers. This paper aims to understand how decentralization reforms modify the balance of power between public administration, customary authorities, and resource end-users in Ghana. Decentralization’s impact is analyzed based on two case studies. Relying on purposive and snowball sampling techniques, and mixed methods, we conducted 8 key informant interviews with local government bureaucrats in land administration, 16 semi-structured interviews with allodial landholders, 20 biographic interviews and 8 focus group discussions with small-scale farmers. The interviews analyzed the institutions and the roles of actors in land administration. Our case studies show that decentralization has the tendency to increase local competition in land administration where there are no clear distribution of power and obligation to local actors. Local competition and elitism in land administration impact the ability of small-scale farmers to regularize or formalize land rights. Thus, the paper concludes that local competition and the elitism within the land administration domain in Ghana could be the main obstacles towards decentralization reforms.
Against a background of disconnect between high demand for small ruminants and limited market integration of small ruminants in the interior savannah agro-ecological zone of Ghana, the objective of this study was to assess the effects of differential access to dry season water on small ruminant production and market integration in the Nadowli District of Ghana. The study obtained data from 389 small ruminant households in the Nadwoli District. The data were analyzed using chi-square test, t-test and logistic regression. The results of the study indicate that 67% of small ruminant keepers in high dry season water access communities adopted all animal husbandry practices compared to 33% of small ruminant keepers in low dry season water access communities. The findings also show that small ruminant market integration was relatively higher for both sheep (48%) and goats (35%) in high dry season water access communities compared to 12 and 9% for sheep and goats, respectively, in low dry season water access communities. Veterinary service access, water access, shelter and free grazing show statistically significant predicting factors of small ruminant market integration. The adoption of good husbandry practices and the resultant high market integration suggests that when communities have access to dry season water, they tend to do better in taking advantage of market opportunities to reduce poverty and enhance food security.
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