Empirical assessment of adaptive capacity of low - income communities to the impacts of climate change and flooding : the Case of Ayigya in the City of Kumasi, Ghana

Environmental studies on global climate have revealed that human-related activities have contributed greatly to the increase in greenhouse gases which has resulted to the increase in global temperature and thereafter the global climatic cycle. Although not all disasters are linked to climate change, the most devastating of all disasters and their effects and increase in magnitude have been proved to have a direct link with climate change, and that is flooding. In the case of the Ayigya community in Ghana, the lack of measures to adapt and mitigate the impacts of climate change and flooding was identified to be a problem the community is facing. Taking-off from this the study aimed at investigating the adaptation and mitigation strategies and measures that are existing in Kumasi and in Ayigya particularly, and whether there are mechanisms to operationalize them. In addition, the study also aimed at determining what socioeconomic and ecological factors of Ayigya are potentially vulnerable to climate change and disaster impacts. The study's geographical scope was situated in the old traditional villages of Ayigya (Ahimbono and Zongo) which has an approximate land area of about 55 hectares. Ayigya was described here as a community whose haphazard development was dictated with the demand for low-income rental housing primarily because of the establishment of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) campus right across its location. The concepts and cases discussed in the study's literature review dealt with climate change as not just an environmental problem but as a development issue that has to be addressed up to the community level. The fact that climate change has now been identified to have social and economic impacts means that communities should be made aware of the activities and practices that add up to the magnitude of greenhouse gas emissions which causes climate change like for one, the use of firewood as fuel for lighting and cooking which not only emits carbon dioxide but also contributes to the reduction of carbon sinks. But more important are adapting to the impacts of climate change which at this point are considered irreversible _ meaning climate change cannot be stopped but its impacts can only be delayed or reduced to a certain magnitude. Specifically, low-income communities which are the most susceptible to climate change impacts like flooding and erosion have to be capacitated and be involved pro-actively in making their communities resilient to these impacts. The research methodology designed for this study was exploratory. For the primary data, the methods of data collection implied here consist of household interviews, in-depth and experts' interviews, transect survey as a field observation method, and peer discussions. The household surveys were done with 100 respondents selected from the estimated 6,000 households in Ayigya. Observation methods through transect surveys were done to get an initial idea about Ayigya's physical environment. The in-depth and experts' interviews were done to get specific information from selected respondents from the community, the government and academic and research institutions based in Kumasi. Quantitative analysis using the Erosion Potential Method (EPM) to determine the erosion category in Ayigya was also done to verify the results of the qualitative analysis. The study also presented four international cases related to climate change and disaster impact adaptation and mitigation. These cases were taken from the Philippines, India, Mexico and Kenya. The first is the Philippine case which dealt with pro-active participation of low-income communities in managing and mitigating disaster prevention and preparedness measures at the community level. The case of India showed how information and communication technology (ICT) tools such as geographic information systems (GIS) can improve planning and decisionmaking for government officials in order to address development issues such as climate change and disasters more effectively and accurately develop measures to mitigate them. The case of Mexico not only gave an example of a good disaster risk management (DRM) system but also showed the importance of involving and recognizing the valuable inputs of technical experts from academic and research institutions. Lastly the case of Kenya showed how protecting the local economic base, in this case agriculture, against the impacts of disasters can make communities less vulnerable to the effects of disaster in the social and economic aspects. The findings of the study focused on three main things _ the existing strategies and measures related to climate change adaptation and DRM; institutional mechanisms to operationalize disaster preparedness strategies; and the socio-economic and ecological characteristics of Ayigya. From these, the vulnerabilities and potential impacts to climate change and natural disaster were drawn and the analysis yielded among others, the following salient results _ (i) erosion is the most severe environmental problem in Ayigya which is supported by qualitative data from field and secondary sources and also from the results of the quantitative analysis using the EPM method; (ii) Ayigya Zongo is the more socially and economically vulnerable to climate change and disaster impacts compared to Ayigya Ahimbono; and (iii) there are overlapping of functions existing between several government agencies and the governance tools being used are too outdated and are almost un-applicable to Ayigya's existing conditions. In conclusion, the research concluded first of all that the most severe problem in Ayigya related to climate change and disaster impacts is erosion which is an after-effect of torrential rains and flooding. However in relation to these phenomena, the strategies and measures on disaster management in Kumasi are more reactive in nature. On the institutional mechanisms, there are some overlaps in the functions of several agencies involved in disaster management and the common problem faced by all of them is the lack of financial resources and shortages in logistics for conducting field operations. The National Disaster Management Office (NADMO) also has a good organizational structure from the national down to the local level but this has fallen short in Ayigya where no disaster volunteer group has been established to assist NADMO in the on-site operations particularly in implementing emergency response measures. To address these concerns, several actions have to be done both at the level of the Kumasi Metropolitan Authority (KMA) and also at the community level to enhance their institutional capacity in disaster management. Among the things that need to be done are the establishment of the community based disaster volunteer group (DVG), capacity-building, and establishment of partnerships with local and international institutions and organizations. In the concept of sustainable development, this study concluded that given the physical, social, economic, and governance issues existing in Ayigya and Kumasi, achieving sustainable development in this case still has a long way to go. Keywords: Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Disaster Impact Adaptation and Mitigation, Disaster Risk Management, Vulnerability, Flooding and Erosion