Challenges and opportunities of ecosystem service integration into land use planning in West Africa – an implementation framework

Abstract

Despite the benefit accrued from integrating ecosystem service (ES) concepts into modern land use planning (LUP) practices, approaches to mainstream the concept in West Africa remains a challenge. The objective of this paper is to develop a framework for integrating ESs into the LUP. We achieved this by using content analysis to search for ES keywords in land use planning policies and act (LUPPA) and to identify existing approaches for mainstreaming the ES approach using Ghana and Nigeria as case-study countries. Following, the SWOT analysis was used to highlight key strength and opportunities of the existing LUPPA, and the benefits the ES concept could offer to increase these strength and opportunities while uncovering the threats to the concepts application in the study location. We suggest the adoption of a transdisciplinary planning approach which integrates strategic environmental assessment and participatory planning and geographic information systems (GIS) approaches, and human resource capacity training of all relevant actors and stakeholders in the planning process on the principles and overall benefits of the ES concept as the way forward. Our framework was developed on the basis of these recommendations for adoption.

Ecosystem functions at the island scale: a contribution to the design of ecological structure

“…Aretano et al (2013), for example, refer that the success of a management plan 'essentially depends on its ability to enhance the involvement of several stakeholders (decision-makers, residents, NGO) with the aim to preserve the area. ' Inkoom et al (2017) developed a framework for integrating ecosystem services into land-use planning and suggested the adoption of a transdisciplinary planning approach, integrating strategic environmental assessment, participatory planning, geographic information systems and human resource capacity training of all relevant actors and stakeholders. To increase the potential of the methodology proposed here and to overcome problems arising from different combinations of EFs, a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model is proposed to be used in the theoretical framework for the ESt.…”

Integrating Ecosystem Services into Land-Use Modeling to Assess the Effects of Future Land-Use Strategies in Northern Ghana

“…• It has potential to be used as a transdisciplinary planning approach that integrates a participatory method and ES mapping, especially in the West African context, where locally adapted methodological frameworks are still limited [18].…”

“…In addition, changes in multiple ES provision depending on the future land-use and landscape patterns were quantified for identifying optimal future options considering ES trade-offs [14][15][16]. However, there is still a lack of attempt to apply ES assessments for adapted land-use planning in West Africa, where people are heavily dependent on land-use activities and resultant products and benefits [17,18].…”

Protecting Forests From Conversion: The Essential Role of Supply-Side National Laws

“…The zoning of forested land is particularly important because it has to balance economic, sustainable development, food security, as well as environmental interests and equity considerations. It should be acknowledged that achieving this balance in practice has proven a challenge for many tropical forested countries (Nana Inkoom et al, 2017). In the absence of, or in addition to land-use planning, sectoral laws on forestry, land, agriculture and mining may address land allocation; however, these laws are often contradictory and open to conflicting interpretations (Sartoretto et al, 2017).…”