Regenerating Mangroves as Nature-based Solutions to Coastal Hazards: Implications for Sustainable Livelihoods in the Volta Delta, Ghana
Bibliographic record
Abstract
The Kunming-Montreal Global Diversity Framework includes strategies to reduce biodiversity loss and restore degraded ecosystems. In Ghana, mangrove ecosystems are experiencing rapid degradation despite their ecological and economic relevance to coastal communities, and efforts to restore and conserve mangrove areas. Studies on the interrelationship between mangroves and sustainable livelihoods for indigenous coastal communities are scant although they are interdependent. This study employed a co-design transdisciplinary approach that involved remote sensing, transect walks and non-participant observation, 17 age- and sex-stratified focus group discussions from five mangrove-using communities and 15 key informant interviews with community leaders, government officials and mangrove owners. Interviews and discussions covered mangrove use and valuation, economic activities, gender roles and social relations, community benefits and conflicts, adaptation and change and future outlook of mangrove-based livelihoods. Findings indicate that mangroves are central to the livelihoods of local communities in the Volta Delta, mainly fuelwood harvesting and trade, as well as fishing and fish processing, tourism and small-scale commerce. Fuelwood harvesting and trade constitute the single largest economic livelihood source in many communities. Secondly, long-term mangrove conservation conflicts with local livelihoods, thus, regenerating mangrove systems is threatened by unsustainable continuous harvesting practices. Other challenges to mangrove conservation include land tenure conflicts, and environmental factors including declining soil quality and drainage issues. Community-led conservation strategies, such as Community Resource Management Areas (CREMA), promote sustainable harvesting practices and the introduction of alternative livelihoods in eco-tourism and aquaculture. However, the short-term economic returns are insignificant, and have the tendency to impoverish members of the value chain who provide labour for harvesting, handling and transporting. The success of mangrove conservation efforts depends on the cooperation of significant members in the mangrove trade value chain, and the availability of economically viable and culturally sensitive alternative livelihoods. This study underscores the importance of community education, inclusive compensation schemes, and strengthening of CREMAs to enhance local engagement in regenerating lost mangrove areas for conservation. The research aligns with the goals of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development which seek to deliver the best knowledge available to decision makers.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".