Reconfiguration of land politics in community resource management areas in Ghana: Insights from the Avu Lagoon CREMA

This study explores the reconfiguration of land politics in a poor rural area of Ghana following the development of a community-based resource management and market-based conservation initiative. In particular we focus on an eco-tourism site that was developed through the Avu Lagoon Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) in Ghana. We adopt a political ecology approach that combines qualitative and quantitative information from multiple sources to explain the nature, drivers and outcomes of this reconfiguration of land politics. In particular we track how different environmental and socioeconomic narratives were mobilized and utilised to justify the establishment of the Avu Lagoon CREMA, and how this gave rise to a series of unmet expectations. The restriction of access to fertile land fit for sugarcane production (a key livelihood activity in the area), combined with the underperformance of the ecotourism project, led to different land contestations, including illicit land transfers and silent repossession through encroachment. We synthesize the main findings through the theory of access and argue that these dynamics follow the reconfiguration of land access, and are reflections of the weak enforcement of CREMA regulations, elite capture of the process, and a lack of proper benefit-sharing mechanisms. From a policy perspective, it is important to give due attention to community participation, payment of compensation, proper benefit-sharing mechanisms and the balance of power between local elites, external organisations and the local communities. Only then would CREMA processes be able to deliver their dual objectives of biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development.