Awareness of Environmental Change, Climate Variability, and Their Role in Prevalence of Mosquitoes among Urban Dwellers in Southern Ghana

Abstract

This study evaluates the extent to which urban residents of Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi (all of southern Ghana) were aware of environment and climate-related variability. A total of 150 questionnaires were given to adults of 40 years and above who lived in the cities for at least 35 years. SPSS version 16 was used to process the data. Results show that all respondents in Accra Metropolitan Area (AMA) and 96% of them in Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Area (STMA) noted the deteriorating vegetation cover over the cities. Similarly, 93% and 83% of them in AMA and STMA, respectively, observed that land use pattern of the two cities has changed considerably. There was positive and statistically significant correlation between respondents' educational attainment and their awareness of changes in land use/land cover (r = 0.18, n = 140, p = 0.03). Also, 71% in AMA and 89% in STMA stated that temperature of the cities had been increasing over the years. In all, 82.9% of the respondents mentioned that they had problem with the increasing population of mosquitoes. Respondents demonstrated ample knowledge of environment and climate variability and should be engaged in preventing further environmental degradation. The top-down approach to environmental issues has failed; the bottom-up approach to environmental maintenance is needed.

Urban sprawl and microclimate in the Ga East municipality of Ghana

“…Climatic elements such as rainfall and temperature provide enormous support to human societies ( Mensah, 2020 ), however these elements continue to be under serious threat through anthropogenic activities such as urban sprawl ( Mattah et al., 2018 ; Li et al., 2017 ). The more urban population increases, the more space is needed to house these numbers.…”

“…, 2015 ) . While a lot of researches have been conducted on urban sprawl effects and climate change worldwide ( Liu and Niyogi, 2019 ; Mansouri Daneshvar et al.2019 ; Alqurashi and Kumar, 2017 ; Chapman et al., 2017 ; Deng et al., 2013 ), very few studies have been conducted in Ghana with the past research foci being on the extent of sprawl, green space reduction and policy implementation to reduce urban sprawl ( Cobbinah et al., 2019 ; Daniels et al., 2018 ; Mensah, 2020 ; Mattah et al., 2018 ), livelihood and ecological management ( Afriyie et al., 2019 ), environmental sustainability ( Yiran, 2020 ), and loss of agricultural lands ( Abass et al., 2018 ; Cobbinah and Aboagye, 2017 ). Amazingly, no preceding work has scrutinized the impact of urban sprawl on microclimate in the Greater Accra region and its Ga East Municipality in particular.…”

Impacts of Climate Change, Land Use and Land Cover Changes on Watersheds in the Upper East Region of Ghana

“…Impacts of climate change are found in terms of increasing temperature, decreasing the number of rainy days, rainfall variations, frequent droughts, severe heat waves, and evidence of periodic floods. Such trends threaten crop yields and risk the food security of poorer countries where agriculture is rain-fed [10].…”

Place, People & Diseases: The Association Between Geography & Diseases in Ghana

“…For example, in 2003, stroke was the sixth most common cause of death in the Ashanti region of Ghana (Cappuccio et al, 2004;Agyemang, 2006). Mattah et al, (2018), also identified that geography affects the health of humans by studying two metropolitan areas (Accra and Takoradi) in southern Ghana. This study also identified that citizens in these areas are aware of how their environment is affecting their health.…”