Community engagement in landscape governance and prospects for operationalising integrated landscape approaches in northern Ghana

Several approaches such as community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) have been promoted to reconcile the preservation of natural ecosystems and the use of their socioeconomic advantages. In the face of mixed results, integrated landscape approaches (ILAs) have emerged to conserve ecosystems and biodiversity while promoting participatory and inclusive resource governance and sustainable local development. Yet, there is still a limited understanding of how ILAs should be operationalised in practice. Using an exploratory sequential mixed method and single case study research design, this research aimed to generate insight into the prospects for operationalising ILAs in northern Ghana. Focusing on landscape governance through community resource management areas (CREMAs), it analyses the opportunities and challenges of implementing ILAs in the Western Wildlife Corridor (WWC). In this regard, it first focuses on stakeholders’ perceptions of landscape governance problems and potential solutions, identifying common concern entry points for ILAs implementation. Second, it analyses land-use conflicts, especially conflicts between farmers and Fulani pastoralists, emphasising the potential of ILAs in resolving such deep-rooted land-use conflicts. Third, the thesis analyses the inclusion of local stakeholders in the CREMA landscape governance. Lastly, it focuses on the negotiation of trade-offs within multistakeholder platforms, analysing factors that influence deliberations.
Despite persistent conflicts, power imbalances, and weak governance structures, this thesis identified several prospects for the operationalisation of ILAs such as plurality and diversity of stakeholders engaged in the WWC governance, shared perceptions of problems and solutions, collaboration among stakeholders, and their willingness to engage in a multistakeholder process.