The impacts of dams on local livelihoods: a study of the Bui Hydroelectric Project in Ghana

Can communities close to Bui National Park mediate the impacts of Bui Dam construction? An exploration of the views of some selected households

“…However, the study provides some differing results with Dzodzi (2006), in part, because people around Bui Dam are unable to explore other promising livelihoods such as fishing (due to the inability to access lake-appropriate equipment and the requisite capital outlays), unlike the case of communities near Akosombo Dam who gladly embraced fishing livelihood through the process of diversification of livelihoods. The positive impacts of dam construction as suggested by this research are further corroborated by the findings of Alhassan (2009), Kyei-Dompreh (2012), Kabo-Bah et al (2016), Obour et al (2016) and Prado et al (2016). More so, the finding is similar to that of Dzodzi (2006) on the long term responses of downstream and lakeside communities of Ghana's Volta River Project, suggesting that dams and associated resettlement can positively affect fishing livelihoods by increasing fish catch and revenue generated from fishing for people and families who have the requisite skills and financial resources to purchase larger boats and outboard motors for lake fishing.…”

“…Ghana relies heavily on hydroelectricity for household and industrial use (Dzorgbo, 2001;Alhassan, 2009;Turner et al, 2012;Obour et al, 2016). For example, it was expected that after the commissioning of the Bui Dam, a total of about 1205 MW of electricity was to be produced from key large hydro sources of Akosombo, Kpong and Bui (Kabo-Bah et al, 2016).…”

Dam-Forced Displacement and Social-Ecological Resilience: The Barra Grande Hydropower Plant in Southern Brazil

“…According to interviewees, 70% of the farmers from these municipalities who opted for individual resettlement have returned to their original municipalities. Resettlement project evasion was also verified by Arnall et al (2013) and by Obour et al (2016). Unable to purchase new properties because of the land price rise, they ended by providing basic services in the urban centers of these mu-nicipalities, changing their livelihhods (A4).…”

In the Land of the Dammed: Assessing Governance in Resettlement of Ghana’s Bui Dam Project

“…In line with the practices of the World Bank and other multilateral financers, a Resettlement Planning Framework (RPF), a forerunner to a binding Resettlement Action Plan (RAP), was formulated to guide the resettlement process. Previous studies on the Bui Dam have largely focused on the planning process, the livelihood impact from the resettlement and the role of the funding sources [11,[13][14][15][16][17]. Although these studies show that the resettlement planning process and the Resettlement Planning Framework adhered to good governance principles, little is known about how much of good governance principles were applied during the compulsory land acquisition and resettlement process [14,17,18].…”