Assessing the effectiveness of local community leaders in managing forest resources in the Mole National Park

https://doi.org/10.35912/joste.v3i1.1003
Published: Jul 12, 2022

Abstract:

Purpose: Protected areas remain an indispensable haven for wildlife resources, and fringe communities must participate in protected area management. Conflicts do arise amongst stakeholders and to resolve these conflicts and to get the best result out of protected areas, the co-management approach is apt, and community leaders play a major role in this direction. However, the focus of this paper is to explore how effective community leaders are in the co-management process.

Research methodology: Mixed method approach was used in this study. For data collection, Questionnaire administration, Focus Group Discussions, and Key Informant Interviews were used in gathering the data. Data analysis was performed using SPSS where results were presented as descriptive statistics supported by content analysis.

Findings: The study revealed that the fringe communities endorse their leaders as the most effective in protected Area management. The study also showed that both the surrounding communities and the Mole national park benefit positively from collaborative management.

Limitations: Some of the community people who were sampled for the question administration were skeptical and reluctant in giving an audience to the researcher with the fear of being cited with contempt of interfering with the work of wildlife staff, but this was later resolved. In addition, the geographical scope of the study was limited to only three communities due to funding challenges.

Contribution: The study could engender the development of benefit-sharing schemes in protected areas and could also lead to the discovery of eco-tourism potentials of some of the fringe communities.

Keywords:
1. Collaboration
2. Effectiveness
3. Participation
4. Stakeholders
Authors:
Ashraf Zakaria
Ndewura Jakpa, Senior High Technical School, Damongo, Ghana
View PDF
How to Cite
Zakaria, A. (2022). Assessing the effectiveness of local community leaders in managing forest resources in the Mole National Park. Journal of Sustainable Tourism and Entrepreneurship, 3(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.35912/joste.v3i1.1003
Download Citation
  1. Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
  2. BibTeX

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
Issue & Section
Vol. 3 No. 1 (2021): September
Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

References

    A Rocha-Ghana (2006). Baseline Socio-Economic Survey Report of Murugu, Mognori and Kananto Communities.

    Adger, W.N., Brown, K. and Tompkins, E.L. (2004). Why do resource management make links to stakeholders at other scales? Tyndall Centre Working Paper 65.

    Agresti, A.and Finlay, B. (2009). Statistical Methods for Social Science (Fourth Edition) Pearson Prentice Hall, New Jersey, USA.

    Agyare, A., Murray, G., Dearden, P., & Rollins, R. (2015). Conservation in context: Variability in desired and perceived outcomes of community based natural resources governance in Ghana. Society and Natural Resources 28(9): 975–994.

    Ameyaw J, Arts B. & Wals A. (2015). Challenges to responsible forest governance in Ghana and its implications for professional education. Forest Policy and Economics 62: 78–87.

    Apagrimchang, A. A. (2018). The woes of the forest of Northern Ghana, a national challenge. Should the charcoal industry be banned? Modern Ghana 28-01-2018.

    Baker, D. M., Murray, G., & Agyare A. K. (2018). Governance and the thinking and breaking of social-ecological taraps. Eco.soc. 23(1), 38

    Baruah, M. (2015). Effect of institutional choices on representation in a community resource management area in Ghana. In: RFGI Working Paper 22. CODESRIA, Dakar.

    Baruah, M., Bobtoya, S., Mbile, P., & Walters, G. (2016). Governance of restoration and institutions: working with Ghana’s community resource management areas. World Dev. Perspect. 3, 38-41.

    Bennett, J. N. (2016). Using perceptions as evidence to improve conservation and environmental management. Conserv Biol. 30:582–592.

    Bouché, P. (2007). Northern Ghana elephant survey. Pachyderm 42(42): 58–69.

    Braimoh, A., K, & Vlek, P. L. G. (2005). Land-cover change trajectories in northern Ghana. Environmental Management 36(3): 356–373.

    Bray, D.B., Merino-Perez, L., Negreros-Castillo, P., Segura-Warnholtz, G., Torres-Rojo, J.M. & Vester, H.F.M. (2003). Mexico’s community-managed forests as a global model for sustainable landscapes. Conservation Biology, 17(3), 672-77.

    Clay, N. (2016). Producing hybrid forests in the Congo Basin: A political ecology of the landscape approach to conservation. Geoforum 76: 130–141.

    D’silva, E., & Nagnath, B. (2002). Behroonguda: A rare success story in Joint forestry management. – Economic and political weekly 37 (6): 551-557

    Emanuel, M. & Ndimbwa, T. (2013). Traditional mechanisms of resolving conflicts over land resource: a case of Gorowa Community in Northern Tanzania. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences November 2013, 3(11).

    Foli, S., Ros-Tonen, M. A. F., Reed, J., & Sunderland, T. (2018). Natural resource management schemes as entry points for integrated landscape approaches: Evidence from Ghana and Burkina Faso. Environmental Management 62(1): 82–97.

    Gbimire, P. (2019). Analysis of human wildlife conflict in buffer zone area: a study from Chitwan National Park, Nepal. International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, 4(6), 164-172. http:// doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnr em.20190406.12.

    Ghana Statistical Service. (2012). 2010 Population and Housing Census: District Analytical Report, West Gonja District. Accra, Ghana.

    Ghauri, P. & Gronhaug, K. (2005). Research Methods in Business Studies, Harlow, FT/Prentice Hall.

    George, A. A. (2021). Social and cultural influences and their implications for sustainable tourism: A case study of Trinidad & Tobago's tourism and the growth of the LGBTQ traveler segment. Journal of Sustainable Tourism and Entrepreneurship, 2(3), 147-157. https://doi.org/10.35912/joste.v2i3.554.

    Green, K., E. (2016). A political ecology of scaling: Struggles over power, land and authority. Geoforum 74: 88–97.

    Hays, Q. R. (2017). Working to Address Complex Forest Issues: A Collaborative Case Study between the Mescalero Apache Nation and USDA Forest Service. Journal of Forestry, 115(5), 456-457.

    Kellert, S., A., Epin, S., & Litchenfield, L. (2000). Managing community resources: Promise, rhetoric and reality (PPF). Society and Natural Resources.13:705–715.

    Kuuder, C.J. W., Bagson, E., & Aalangdong, I. O. (2013b). Assessment of visitor satisfaction in Mole National Park, Ghana. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2(3)

    Lockwood, M., Davidson, J., Curtis, A., Stratford, E. & Griffith, R., (2010). Governance principles for natural resource management. Society and Natural Resources 23(10): 986-1001.

    Marques, A.F., Rosset C., Rasinmaki, J., Vacik, H., Gordon, S., Nobre, S., Falcao, A., Weber D., Granitzer, M. & Eriksson, L.O. (2014). Collaborative Development of a Semantic wiki on Forest Management Decision Support, Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research, 29:sup1, 30-43.

    Mbaiwa, J., E. (2012): Botswana’s community based natural resource management status report for 2011/2012. – Gaborone: Kalahari conservation society.

    Mokiwa, J. (2015). Community Participation in Water Resources Management: A case of Saaki Spring in Hai District, Tanzania. 70.

    Mole National Park Management Plan (2011). Unpublished report. Wildlife Division of Forestry Commission, Accra, Ghana.

    Museums and Monuments Board (2009). Ghana’s Vanishing Past; Development Antiques and the Destruction of Archaeological Records.

    Mutandwa, E., & Gadzirayi, C. T. (2007): Impact of community-based approaches to wildlife management: Case study of the CAMPFIRE programme in Zimbabwe. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 14: 336-344

    Mutanga, C.N, Vengesayi, S., Gandiwa, E., & Muboko, N. (2015). Community perceptions of wildlife conservation and tourism: a case study of communities adjacent to four protected areas in Zimbabwe. Trop Conservation Sci. 8:564–582.

    Mutanga, C.N., Muboko, N., Gandiwa, E., & Vengesayi, S. (2016). Beyond a single perspective to conservation relationships: exploring factors influencing protected area staff and local community relationships in Zimbabwe. International Journal of Biodiversity Science. Ecosystem Serv Manag. 12:212–226.

    O’connor, A., Djoudi, H., & Zida, M., (2021). Potential for integrated landscape approaches. A review of Ghana’s national environment and development In: issue (320)

    Oduro, K.A., Acquah, B.S., Adu-Gyamfi, A., & Agyeman, V.K., (2012). Ghana forest and wildlife handbook: A compendium of information about forests and wildlife resources, forestry-related issues and wood processing in Ghana. Forest. Commiss.

    Ouko, E. M. (2018). Contextualising integrated conservation and development projects: Restoring the lost “harambee” link in Kenya. Geoforum 92: 81–91.

    Owusu-Ansa, N. (2018). Assessing how collaborative resource management impacts victims’ perspectives on wildlife crop raids. Journal of Natural Resources and Development 8: 115–124.

    Prakoso, A. A., Pradipto, E., Roychansyah, M. S., & Nugraha, B. S. (2020). Community-based tourism: concepts, opportunities and challenges. Journal of Sustainable Tourism and Entrepreneurship, 2(2), 95-107. https://doi.org/10.35912/joste.v2i2.563.

    Reed, J., Ros-Tonen, M., & Sunderland, T. (2020). Operationalizing integrated landscape approaches in the tropics. Bogor, Indonesia: CIFOR.

    Sackey, T. & Hale, W. G. H. (2008). The impact of elephants on the woody vegetation of Mole National Park, Ghana.

    Seixas, C.S. (2006b). Barriers to local-level ecosystem assessment and participatory management in Brazil. In: Reid, W.V., Berkes, F., Wilbanks, T.J. and Capistrano, D. (Editors). Bridging scales and knowledge systems. Concepts and applications in ecosystem assessment/ Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Washington, USA: Island press.

    Shaw, E. (2018). Common wildlife in Ghana. Travel Tips, Leaf Group Updated March 21. https://traveltips.usatoday.com/common-wildlife-ghana-105823.html.

    Sobey, D. G. (1978). Anogneissus Groves on Abandoned Village Sites in the Mole National Park, Ghana. Biotropica 10(2), 28-38.

    Stevenson, M. G. (2006). The Possibility of Difference: Rethinking Co-Management. Human Organization, 65(2), 167-180).

    St Jacques, M. C. (2009): Community water strategies: A framework for implementation. Working document. – Brace Centre for Water Resources Management McGill University, Montreal, Canada

    Stroud, A., Obin, E., Kandelwahl, R. Byekwaso, F. Opondo, C. German, L. Tanui, J. Kyampaire, K. Mbwesa, B. Ariho, A. Africare & Kabale (2006). District Farmers’ Association. Managing Change: Institutional Development under NAADS: A Field Study on Farmer Institutions Working with NAADS. AHI Working Paper No. 22.

    Tiimub, B. M., Gbolo, B., Tiimob, R. W., Tiimob, E. L., Kumedzro, V., & Tiimob, E., (2019). Impact of community participation in adaptive wildlife resources management at Mole National Park, Ghana, Journal of Sustainable Tourism and Entrepreneurship/ 1(2) 139-149 https://doi.org/10.35912/joste.v1i2.245

    Trochim, W. (2006). Research Methods: The Concise Knowledge Base. Cincinnatti, OH. UNCED 1992, Earth Summit-United Nations.

    United Nations Development Programme (2012b): Monks Community Forest, Cambodia. – Equator Initiative Case Study Series, New York, NY.

    United Nations Development Programme (2013): Kanghua Community Development Centre, China. – Equator Initiative Case Study Series, New York, NY.

    Walkowski, M. D. C., Pires, P. D. S., & Tricárico, L. T. (2019). Community-based tourism initiatives and their contribution to sustainable local development. Journal of Sustainable Tourism and Entrepreneurship, 1(1), 55-67. https://doi.org/10.35912/joste.v1i1.203

    White, P. C., & and Ward, A. I. (2011). Interdisciplinary approaches for the management of existing and emerging human–wildlife conflicts. Wildl Res, 37, 623–629.

    Yahaya, A. K., Zakaria, A., & Boasu, B. Y. (2021). Local actors in the co-management of mole national park and the impacts associated with it, Ghana Journal of Geography, 13 (3), 200-230. Doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/gjg.v13i3.9

  1. A Rocha-Ghana (2006). Baseline Socio-Economic Survey Report of Murugu, Mognori and Kananto Communities.
  2. Adger, W.N., Brown, K. and Tompkins, E.L. (2004). Why do resource management make links to stakeholders at other scales? Tyndall Centre Working Paper 65.
  3. Agresti, A.and Finlay, B. (2009). Statistical Methods for Social Science (Fourth Edition) Pearson Prentice Hall, New Jersey, USA.
  4. Agyare, A., Murray, G., Dearden, P., & Rollins, R. (2015). Conservation in context: Variability in desired and perceived outcomes of community based natural resources governance in Ghana. Society and Natural Resources 28(9): 975–994.
  5. Ameyaw J, Arts B. & Wals A. (2015). Challenges to responsible forest governance in Ghana and its implications for professional education. Forest Policy and Economics 62: 78–87.
  6. Apagrimchang, A. A. (2018). The woes of the forest of Northern Ghana, a national challenge. Should the charcoal industry be banned? Modern Ghana 28-01-2018.
  7. Baker, D. M., Murray, G., & Agyare A. K. (2018). Governance and the thinking and breaking of social-ecological taraps. Eco.soc. 23(1), 38
  8. Baruah, M. (2015). Effect of institutional choices on representation in a community resource management area in Ghana. In: RFGI Working Paper 22. CODESRIA, Dakar.
  9. Baruah, M., Bobtoya, S., Mbile, P., & Walters, G. (2016). Governance of restoration and institutions: working with Ghana’s community resource management areas. World Dev. Perspect. 3, 38-41.
  10. Bennett, J. N. (2016). Using perceptions as evidence to improve conservation and environmental management. Conserv Biol. 30:582–592.
  11. Bouché, P. (2007). Northern Ghana elephant survey. Pachyderm 42(42): 58–69.
  12. Braimoh, A., K, & Vlek, P. L. G. (2005). Land-cover change trajectories in northern Ghana. Environmental Management 36(3): 356–373.
  13. Bray, D.B., Merino-Perez, L., Negreros-Castillo, P., Segura-Warnholtz, G., Torres-Rojo, J.M. & Vester, H.F.M. (2003). Mexico’s community-managed forests as a global model for sustainable landscapes. Conservation Biology, 17(3), 672-77.
  14. Clay, N. (2016). Producing hybrid forests in the Congo Basin: A political ecology of the landscape approach to conservation. Geoforum 76: 130–141.
  15. D’silva, E., & Nagnath, B. (2002). Behroonguda: A rare success story in Joint forestry management. – Economic and political weekly 37 (6): 551-557
  16. Emanuel, M. & Ndimbwa, T. (2013). Traditional mechanisms of resolving conflicts over land resource: a case of Gorowa Community in Northern Tanzania. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences November 2013, 3(11).
  17. Foli, S., Ros-Tonen, M. A. F., Reed, J., & Sunderland, T. (2018). Natural resource management schemes as entry points for integrated landscape approaches: Evidence from Ghana and Burkina Faso. Environmental Management 62(1): 82–97.
  18. Gbimire, P. (2019). Analysis of human wildlife conflict in buffer zone area: a study from Chitwan National Park, Nepal. International Journal of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, 4(6), 164-172. http:// doi.org/10.11648/j.ijnr em.20190406.12.
  19. Ghana Statistical Service. (2012). 2010 Population and Housing Census: District Analytical Report, West Gonja District. Accra, Ghana.
  20. Ghauri, P. & Gronhaug, K. (2005). Research Methods in Business Studies, Harlow, FT/Prentice Hall.
  21. George, A. A. (2021). Social and cultural influences and their implications for sustainable tourism: A case study of Trinidad & Tobago's tourism and the growth of the LGBTQ traveler segment. Journal of Sustainable Tourism and Entrepreneurship, 2(3), 147-157. https://doi.org/10.35912/joste.v2i3.554.
  22. Green, K., E. (2016). A political ecology of scaling: Struggles over power, land and authority. Geoforum 74: 88–97.
  23. Hays, Q. R. (2017). Working to Address Complex Forest Issues: A Collaborative Case Study between the Mescalero Apache Nation and USDA Forest Service. Journal of Forestry, 115(5), 456-457.
  24. Kellert, S., A., Epin, S., & Litchenfield, L. (2000). Managing community resources: Promise, rhetoric and reality (PPF). Society and Natural Resources.13:705–715.
  25. Kuuder, C.J. W., Bagson, E., & Aalangdong, I. O. (2013b). Assessment of visitor satisfaction in Mole National Park, Ghana. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2(3)
  26. Lockwood, M., Davidson, J., Curtis, A., Stratford, E. & Griffith, R., (2010). Governance principles for natural resource management. Society and Natural Resources 23(10): 986-1001.
  27. Marques, A.F., Rosset C., Rasinmaki, J., Vacik, H., Gordon, S., Nobre, S., Falcao, A., Weber D., Granitzer, M. & Eriksson, L.O. (2014). Collaborative Development of a Semantic wiki on Forest Management Decision Support, Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research, 29:sup1, 30-43.
  28. Mbaiwa, J., E. (2012): Botswana’s community based natural resource management status report for 2011/2012. – Gaborone: Kalahari conservation society.
  29. Mokiwa, J. (2015). Community Participation in Water Resources Management: A case of Saaki Spring in Hai District, Tanzania. 70.
  30. Mole National Park Management Plan (2011). Unpublished report. Wildlife Division of Forestry Commission, Accra, Ghana.
  31. Museums and Monuments Board (2009). Ghana’s Vanishing Past; Development Antiques and the Destruction of Archaeological Records.
  32. Mutandwa, E., & Gadzirayi, C. T. (2007): Impact of community-based approaches to wildlife management: Case study of the CAMPFIRE programme in Zimbabwe. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 14: 336-344
  33. Mutanga, C.N, Vengesayi, S., Gandiwa, E., & Muboko, N. (2015). Community perceptions of wildlife conservation and tourism: a case study of communities adjacent to four protected areas in Zimbabwe. Trop Conservation Sci. 8:564–582.
  34. Mutanga, C.N., Muboko, N., Gandiwa, E., & Vengesayi, S. (2016). Beyond a single perspective to conservation relationships: exploring factors influencing protected area staff and local community relationships in Zimbabwe. International Journal of Biodiversity Science. Ecosystem Serv Manag. 12:212–226.
  35. O’connor, A., Djoudi, H., & Zida, M., (2021). Potential for integrated landscape approaches. A review of Ghana’s national environment and development In: issue (320)
  36. Oduro, K.A., Acquah, B.S., Adu-Gyamfi, A., & Agyeman, V.K., (2012). Ghana forest and wildlife handbook: A compendium of information about forests and wildlife resources, forestry-related issues and wood processing in Ghana. Forest. Commiss.
  37. Ouko, E. M. (2018). Contextualising integrated conservation and development projects: Restoring the lost “harambee” link in Kenya. Geoforum 92: 81–91.
  38. Owusu-Ansa, N. (2018). Assessing how collaborative resource management impacts victims’ perspectives on wildlife crop raids. Journal of Natural Resources and Development 8: 115–124.
  39. Prakoso, A. A., Pradipto, E., Roychansyah, M. S., & Nugraha, B. S. (2020). Community-based tourism: concepts, opportunities and challenges. Journal of Sustainable Tourism and Entrepreneurship, 2(2), 95-107. https://doi.org/10.35912/joste.v2i2.563.
  40. Reed, J., Ros-Tonen, M., & Sunderland, T. (2020). Operationalizing integrated landscape approaches in the tropics. Bogor, Indonesia: CIFOR.
  41. Sackey, T. & Hale, W. G. H. (2008). The impact of elephants on the woody vegetation of Mole National Park, Ghana.
  42. Seixas, C.S. (2006b). Barriers to local-level ecosystem assessment and participatory management in Brazil. In: Reid, W.V., Berkes, F., Wilbanks, T.J. and Capistrano, D. (Editors). Bridging scales and knowledge systems. Concepts and applications in ecosystem assessment/ Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Washington, USA: Island press.
  43. Shaw, E. (2018). Common wildlife in Ghana. Travel Tips, Leaf Group Updated March 21. https://traveltips.usatoday.com/common-wildlife-ghana-105823.html.
  44. Sobey, D. G. (1978). Anogneissus Groves on Abandoned Village Sites in the Mole National Park, Ghana. Biotropica 10(2), 28-38.
  45. Stevenson, M. G. (2006). The Possibility of Difference: Rethinking Co-Management. Human Organization, 65(2), 167-180).
  46. St Jacques, M. C. (2009): Community water strategies: A framework for implementation. Working document. – Brace Centre for Water Resources Management McGill University, Montreal, Canada
  47. Stroud, A., Obin, E., Kandelwahl, R. Byekwaso, F. Opondo, C. German, L. Tanui, J. Kyampaire, K. Mbwesa, B. Ariho, A. Africare & Kabale (2006). District Farmers’ Association. Managing Change: Institutional Development under NAADS: A Field Study on Farmer Institutions Working with NAADS. AHI Working Paper No. 22.
  48. Tiimub, B. M., Gbolo, B., Tiimob, R. W., Tiimob, E. L., Kumedzro, V., & Tiimob, E., (2019). Impact of community participation in adaptive wildlife resources management at Mole National Park, Ghana, Journal of Sustainable Tourism and Entrepreneurship/ 1(2) 139-149 https://doi.org/10.35912/joste.v1i2.245
  49. Trochim, W. (2006). Research Methods: The Concise Knowledge Base. Cincinnatti, OH. UNCED 1992, Earth Summit-United Nations.
  50. United Nations Development Programme (2012b): Monks Community Forest, Cambodia. – Equator Initiative Case Study Series, New York, NY.
  51. United Nations Development Programme (2013): Kanghua Community Development Centre, China. – Equator Initiative Case Study Series, New York, NY.
  52. Walkowski, M. D. C., Pires, P. D. S., & Tricárico, L. T. (2019). Community-based tourism initiatives and their contribution to sustainable local development. Journal of Sustainable Tourism and Entrepreneurship, 1(1), 55-67. https://doi.org/10.35912/joste.v1i1.203
  53. White, P. C., & and Ward, A. I. (2011). Interdisciplinary approaches for the management of existing and emerging human–wildlife conflicts. Wildl Res, 37, 623–629.
  54. Yahaya, A. K., Zakaria, A., & Boasu, B. Y. (2021). Local actors in the co-management of mole national park and the impacts associated with it, Ghana Journal of Geography, 13 (3), 200-230. Doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/gjg.v13i3.9