Management of domestic solid waste is one of the challenges facing many metropolitan municipal and district Assemblies in Ghana because uncollected and improperly disposed waste results in the clogging of most public areas, streets, and gutters and has a grave implications on health. In the Bolgatanga municipality, as a result of increasing urban population, a high consumption and disposal lifestyle that has no need for reuse, negative attitude by individuals and households in the handling of waste and the inadequate financial and logistical requirements on the part of the local authorities to combat this menace has had a negative impact on waste management in the municipality. This research conducts a social survey in five (5) major settlements in the municipality namely; Bolgatanga town, Zuarungu, Yikene, Sumburungu and Tindonsobligo to ascertain attitudes in waste management, perceptions on the value and reuse of waste and the management of waste at the household and local levels. Also we determined the rates and trend in increase of population and waste levels for the municipality at a four (4) year interval for the years; 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005, and 2009 and measure the strength of association using Pearson's Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. The study revealed that the most predominant waste disposal is the communal disposal at sites normally not approved in the peri-urban communities. This is followed by the door-to-door services which was prevalent in the urban residential areas. Despite the dominant nature of communal skips and door-to-door services mostly in the Bolgatanga community, inhabitants still practice improper disposal from disposal in nearby bush to open dumps due to lack of enforcement of regulatory policies and programmes irrespective of income levels. These problems are compounded by inadequate proper storage receptacles, unavailability of community storage receptacles and the long distance of travel for disposal of household waste which discourages dumping at common and approved sites. For the period under consideration (1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009), the population for the municipality increased from 188,690 to 295,333 representing an increase of 36%, while waste generated increased from 46,015 to 101, 823 tons, an increase by 55% which results in an average per capita waste generation (kg/person/daily) of 0.70 kilogrammes for the period under consideration. The Pearson's Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) between population and waste generated in the municipality revealed a high and a strong association of 0.88 which confirms the distribution of communal skips by the municipal assembly with concentration in high population urban zones within the Bolgatanga town.

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Agriculture continues to play its role as the backbone of the Ghanaian economy despite that its contribution to GDP has declined by seven-percentage points between 2007 and 2013. The relationship between agricultural practices and environmental sustainability poses serious challenges, yet it has attracted less attention in many developing countries particularly in Ghana. This paper presents a review of the impact of agricultural practices on environmental sustainability in Ghana.The findings of the study reveal that some of the country's agricultural practices such as deforestation, slash-and-burn agriculture, negative soil nutrients balance, increased dependence on agro-chemicals for both crop and animal production -chemical fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, vaccines and antibiotics, antimicrobial drugs, biotechnology, etc threaten our environmental sustainability and need to be altered. Besides, degrading the soil, water, air and biodiversity as well as posing health risks to both famers and consumers, the practices also contribute to high carbon-emissions into the atmosphere facilitating climate change. The effects of climate on agricultural production and productivity are devastating and negate farmers' income and livelihoods, health and the environment in general. These agricultural practices are not sustainable; as they degrade the environment and reduce the effective functioning of the essential ecosystem services; and ultimately, undermine the nutritional and health value of foods.The study recommended sustainable agricultural practices to enhance environmental sustainability through developing resilient/adaptive and low-carbon economy technologies that aim to cope with the vagaries of climate change and reduce the emissions of carbon compounds thereby, protecting the natural resource base of the environment for both present and future generations.

The sustainability of groundwater, which is the major source of potable water due to its general superiority in terms of natural quality and reliability in the semi-arid Bawku municipality had been assessed quantitatively using data on 760 boreholes, 79 hand-dug wells (HDWs), 8 mechanized boreholes, and water quality analysis of 25 boreholes and 10 HDWs. Analysis of drill logs revealed the existence of granitoids and Birimian metavolcanics as the main geological formations hosting structurally controlled aquifers. The estimated current annual water demand and abstraction were 6.52×10 6 and 2.8×10 6 m 3 respectively while the estimated annual recharge rate, permanent groundwater reserve and recoverable water reserve were 20.6×10 6 m 3 , 799.02×10 6 m 3 and 319.61×10 6 m 3 respectively. The study showed that the current groundwater abstraction constitute only 13.6% of annual groundwater recharge, 35.02% of permanent groundwater reserve and meets only 42.9% of groundwater demand leaving a deficit of about 57.1% (3.72×10 6 m 3 /yr). Thus, aquifers meet current demand and have the capacity to be further developed to meet future needs sustainably. The observed gradual decrease in groundwater levels, annual rainfall figures and a corresponding increase in temperature (unfavourable climate change effects) coupled with the ever-increasing population may impact negatively on groundwater reserve in the near future if adaptive measures are not put in place. We recommend for further and more detailed studies including but limited to continuous monitoring of groundwater levels, yield, quality and isotopic studies of the resource in the municipality so as to ensure sustainable management to meet the socio-economic needs of the inhabitants.

The knowledge and understanding of rainfall distribution of a region are very essential and useful in determining the overall impacts of climate change, especially to the agricultural sector. Monthly rainfall data from 1976-2016 for five selected stations were acquired and subjected to various statistical techniques namely coefficient of variation, 5-year moving average and departure from the mean to obtain the variability and trends in the data. The results showed that the selected stations have uni-modal rainfall distribution and that the rain mostly starts in May and ends in September. High precipitation occurs in July, August and September, with August recording the highest amount with a low variability, indicating the reliable occurrence of precipitation within this period of the year. This is of high importance to farmers and the recharging of aquifers. The wettest station was Zuarungu, with a mean total monthly rainfall of 89.55 mm followed by Navrongo, Bolgatanga, Garu and Manga-Bawku with their respective mean total monthly rainfall as 81.08 mm, 80.59 mm, 79.64 mm and 78.86 mm. High annual variability was found in all the stations and long dry spells were observed from November to March. The rainfall season wet period is between July and September at all the stations and it is recommended that farmers should cultivate early-maturing crops and adopt irrigation farming practices as well as practices which utilize water efficiently.