Assessing driving forces of land use and land cover change by a mixed-method approach in north-eastern Ghana, West Africa.
Land use and land cover change (LULCC) is the result of complex human-environmental interactions. The high interdependencies in social-ecological systems make it difficult to identify the main drivers. However, knowledge of key drivers of LULCC, including indirect (underlying) drivers which cannot be easily determined by spatial or economic analyses, is essential for land use planning and especially important in developing countries. We used a mixed-method approach in order to detect drivers of LULCC in the Upper East Region of northern Ghana by different qualitative and quantitative methods which were compared in a confidence level analysis. Viewpoints from experts help to answer why the land use is changing, since many triggering effects, especially non-spatial and indirect drivers of LULCC, are not measurable by other methodological approaches. Geo-statistical or economic analyses add to validate the relevance of the expert-based results. First, we conducted in-depth interviews and developed a list of 34 direct and indirect drivers of LULCC. Subsequently, a group of experts was asked in a questionnaire to select the most important drivers by using a Likert scale. This information was complemented by remote sensing analysis. Finally, the driver analysis was compared to information from literature. Based on these analyses there is a very high confidence that population growth, especially in rural areas, is a major driver of LULCC. Further, current farming practice, bush fires, livestock, the road network and climate variability were the main direct drivers while the financial capital of farmers and customary norms regarding land tenure were listed as important indirect drivers with high confidence. Many of these driving forces, such as labour shortage and migration, are furthermore interdependent. Governmental laws, credits, the service by extension officers, conservational agriculture and foreign agricultural medium-scale investments are currently not driving land use changes. We conclude that the mixed-method approach improves the confidence of findings and the selection of most important drivers for modelling LULCC, especially in developing countries.
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU), Kreuzeckbahnstraße 19, 82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany; University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF), Walter-Flex-Str. 3, 53113 Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: jkleemann@uni-bonn.de.
Janina
J
Kleemann
University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF), Walter-Flex-Str. 3, 53113 Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: gbaysal@uni-bonn.de.
Gülendam
G
Baysal
(Geography & GIScience), Department of Social Sciences, Human Services & CRJ, BMCC, City University of New York, New York, NY 10007, United States. Electronic address: hbulley@bmcc.cuny.edu.
Henry N N
HNN
Bulley
Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Institute for Geosciences and Geography, Sustainable Landscape Development, Von-Seckendorff-Platz 4, 06120 Halle, Germany. Electronic address: christine.fuerst@geo.uni-halle.de.
Christine
C
Fürst
D000383:Agriculture; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D005869:Ghana; D006801:Humans; D011158:Population Growth
Agriculture; Expert interviews; Land degradation; Population pressure; Remote sensing; Upper East Region