IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/natres/v41y2017i4p234-243.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Resource utilization conflict in downstream non‐resettled communities of the Bui Dam in Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Kwadwo Owusu
  • Paul W. K. Yankson
  • Alex B. Asiedu
  • Peter B. Obour

Abstract

In this study, we examined the downstream social impacts of Ghana’s Bui Dam and identified resource use conflicts in the non‐resettled communities within a 30 km stretch along the course of the Black Volta River below the dam. Through household survey questionnaires and focus group discussions, data were collected from farming and fishing communities in seven downstream non‐resettled communities. Data analysis was guided by the distance decay concept and matrix framework on the social impacts of dams. The results indicate that the construction of the Bui Dam has led to improvements in social infrastructure with positive multiplier effects in a spatially differentiated manner. On the other hand, the influx of migrants and the resultant land and water resource use conflicts have adversely affected farming and fishing, which are the main sources of livelihoods in the communities. Policies to regulate natural resource use around dams were recommended to be considered in dam planning and execution to safeguard the livelihoods of local downstream populations.

Suggested Citation

  • Kwadwo Owusu & Paul W. K. Yankson & Alex B. Asiedu & Peter B. Obour, 2017. "Resource utilization conflict in downstream non‐resettled communities of the Bui Dam in Ghana," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(4), pages 234-243, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:natres:v:41:y:2017:i:4:p:234-243
    DOI: 10.1111/1477-8947.12139
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1477-8947.12139
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1477-8947.12139?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bateman, Ian J. & Day, Brett H. & Georgiou, Stavros & Lake, Iain, 2006. "The aggregation of environmental benefit values: Welfare measures, distance decay and total WTP," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 450-460, December.
    2. Strobl, Eric & Strobl, Robert O., 2011. "The distributional impact of large dams: Evidence from cropland productivity in Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 432-450, November.
    3. Frauke Urban & Johan Nordensvard & Giuseppina Siciliano & Bingqin Li, 2015. "Chinese Overseas Hydropower Dams and Social Sustainability: The Bui Dam in Ghana and the Kamchay Dam in Cambodia," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(3), pages 573-589, September.
    4. Ruby W. Grantham & Murray A. Rudd, 2017. "Household susceptibility to hydrological change in the Lower Mekong Basin," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(1), pages 3-17, February.
    5. Hensengerth, Oliver, 2011. "Interaction of Chinese institutions with host governments in dam construction: the Bui dam in Ghana," IDOS Discussion Papers 3/2011, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    6. Ian Bateman & Ian Langford & Naohito Nishikawa & Iain Lake, 2000. "The Axford Debate Revisited: A Case Study Illustrating Different Approaches to the Aggregation of Benefits Data," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(2), pages 291-302.
    7. Peter Bilson Obour & Kwadwo Owusu & Edmond Akwasi Agyeman & Albert Ahenkan & Àngel Navarro Madrid, 2016. "The impacts of dams on local livelihoods: a study of the Bui Hydroelectric Project in Ghana," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(2), pages 286-300, March.
    8. Manyari, Waleska Valenca & de Carvalho Jr., Osmar Abilio, 2007. "Environmental considerations in energy planning for the Amazon region: Downstream effects of dams," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 6526-6534, December.
    9. Meixler, Marcia S. & Bain, Mark B. & Todd Walter, M., 2009. "Predicting barrier passage and habitat suitability for migratory fish species," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 220(20), pages 2782-2791.
    10. Frauke Urban & Johan Nordensvard & Giuseppina Siciliano & Bingqin Li, 2015. "Chinese Overseas Hydropower Dams and Social Sustainability: The Bui Dam in Ghana and the Kamchay Dam in Cambodia," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies 201543, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    11. Nick Hanley & Carol A. Salt & Mike Wilson & Meara Culligan‐Dunsmore, 2001. "Evaluating alternative “countermeasures” against food contamination resulting from nuclear accidents," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 92-109, May.
    12. Eric Ochieng Okuku & Steven Bouillon & Jacob Odhiambo Ochiewo & Fridah Munyi & Linet Imbayi Kiteresi & Mwakio Tole, 2016. "The impacts of hydropower development on rural livelihood sustenance," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(2), pages 267-285, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tianhe Jiang & Mark Wang & Yingnan Zhang & Guoqing Shi & Dengcai Yan, 2021. "What about the “Stayers”? Examining China’s Resettlement Induced by Large Reservoir Projects," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-20, February.
    2. Mayeda, A.M. & Boyd, A.D., 2020. "Factors influencing public perceptions of hydropower projects: A systematic literature review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    3. Tang, Keyi & Shen, Yingjiao, 2020. "Do China-financed dams in Sub-Saharan Africa improve the region's social welfare? A case study of the impacts of Ghana's Bui Dam," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kwabena Asiama & Monica Lengoiboni & Paul Van der Molen, 2017. "In the Land of the Dammed: Assessing Governance in Resettlement of Ghana’s Bui Dam Project," Land, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-24, November.
    2. Tang, Keyi & Shen, Yingjiao, 2020. "Do China-financed dams in Sub-Saharan Africa improve the region's social welfare? A case study of the impacts of Ghana's Bui Dam," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    3. Chen, Yunnan & Landry, David, 2018. "Capturing the rains: Comparing Chinese and World Bank hydropower projects in Cameroon and pathways for South-South and North South technology transfer," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 561-571.
    4. Hensengerth, Oliver, 2018. "South-South technology transfer: Who benefits? A case study of the Chinese-built Bui dam in Ghana," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 499-507.
    5. Johnston, Robert J. & Ramachandran, Mahesh & Schultz, Eric T. & Segerson, Kathleen & Besedin, Elena Y., 2011. "Characterizing Spatial Pattern in Ecosystem Service Values when Distance Decay Doesn’t Apply: Choice Experiments and Local Indicators of Spatial Association," 2011 Annual Meeting, July 24-26, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 103374, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Ndebele, Tom & Forgie, Vicky, 2017. "Estimating the economic benefits of a wetland restoration programme in New Zealand: A contingent valuation approach," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 75-89.
    7. Donfouet, Hermann Pythagore Pierre & Mohamed, Shukri F. & Otieno, Peter & Wambiya, Elvis & Mutua, Martin Kavao & Danaei, Goodarz, 2020. "Economic valuation of setting up a social health enterprise in urban poor-resource setting in Kenya," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    8. Adjei, E.A. & Amoabeng, K.O. & Ayetor, G.K.K. & Obeng, G.Y. & Quansah, D.A. & Adusei, J.S., 2022. "Assessing the impact of hydro energy project on poverty alleviation: The case of Bui Dam in Ghana," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    9. Holland, Benedict M. & Johnston, Robert J., 2014. "Spatially-Referenced Choice Experiments: Tests of Individualized Geocoding in Stated Preference Questionnaires," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170191, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Andrea Schapper & Frauke Urban, 2021. "Large dams, norms and Indigenous Peoples," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 39(S1), pages 61-80, August.
    11. Robert Deacon & Felix Schläpfer, 2010. "The Spatial Range of Public Goods Revealed Through Referendum Voting," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 47(3), pages 305-328, November.
    12. Fadzilah Majid Cooke & Johan Nordensvard & Gusni Bin Saat & Frauke Urban & Giuseppina Siciliano, 2017. "The Limits of Social Protection: The Case of Hydropower Dams and Indigenous Peoples' Land," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(3), pages 437-450, September.
    13. Joao J. M. Ferreira & Cristina Fernandes & Vanessa Ratten, 2019. "The effects of technology transfers and institutional factors on economic growth: evidence from Europe and Oceania," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(5), pages 1505-1528, October.
    14. Siciliano, Giuseppina & Urban, Frauke, 2017. "Equity-based Natural Resource Allocation for Infrastructure Development: Evidence From Large Hydropower Dams in Africa and Asia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 130-139.
    15. Andrea Schapper & Christine Unrau & Sarah Killoh, 2020. "Social mobilization against large hydroelectric dams: A comparison of Ethiopia, Brazil, and Panama," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 413-423, March.
    16. Robert Johnston & Mahesh Ramachandran, 2014. "Modeling Spatial Patchiness and Hot Spots in Stated Preference Willingness to Pay," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 59(3), pages 363-387, November.
    17. Castro-Diaz, Laura & García, María Alejandra & Villamayor-Tomas, Sergio & Lopez, Maria Claudia, 2023. "Impacts of hydropower development on locals’ livelihoods in the Global South," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    18. Paul W. K. Yankson & Alex B. Asiedu & Kwadwo Owusu & Frauke Urban & Giuseppina Siciliano, 2018. "The livelihood challenges of resettled communities of the Bui dam project in Ghana and the role of Chinese dam†builders," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(S1), pages 476-494, March.
    19. Kirchherr, Julian & Matthews, Nathanial & Charles, Katrina J. & Walton, Matthew J., 2017. "“Learning it the Hard Way”: Social safeguards norms in Chinese-led dam projects in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 529-539.
    20. Morello, Thiago & Anderson, Liana & Silva, Sonaira, 2022. "Innovative fire policy in the Amazon: A statistical Hicks-Kaldor analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:natres:v:41:y:2017:i:4:p:234-243. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1477-8947 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.