Dwindling rivers and floodplains in Kumasi, Ghana: A socio-spatial analysis of the extent and trend

Amoateng, Paul; Finlayson, C. Max; Howard, Jonathon; Wilson, Ben

doi:10.1016/j.apgeog.2017.11.007

Cited by 28 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…There, the floodplain area is built-up and natural ecosystem functions are reduced due to loss of connectivity with the watercourse caused by river bank fortification and construction of levees along the river (e.g. Hein, van Koppen, et al, 2016or Amoateng et al, 2018. In the agricultural landscape, the quality of ecosystem functions performed by the floodplain area is negatively affected by significant human-induced channel incision and narrowing, resulting in a lowering of the water table.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing floodplains using nature‐based solutions to support multiple ecosystem functions and services

et al. 2021

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Floodplains include unique environments shaped over a long time horizon along rivers and smaller streams and formed by alluvial sediments. As floodplains are flat, often with highly fertile and well-accessible land, they have become the intrinsic focus of human society-while providing a variety of goods and ecosystem services. Intensive land use of floodplains is degrading their natural values and significantly reducing their ecosystem functions and services. A significant part of these key services is related with the ability of floodplains to retain water and nutrients, which can be understood as a flood control and a water-retention function. Although these ecosystems serve a number of other basic functions, the importance of floodplains as a place for water retention during extreme discharges caused by intense rainfall or snowmelt and the supply of water in times of drought are essential under conditions of global change. In order to increase the ability of floodplains to perform these functions, it is increasingly required to preserve the connectivity of rivers with surrounding floodplains and adapt human activities to maintain and restore river ecosystems. This article reviews the recent understanding of floodplain delineation, the most common causes of disturbance, the ecosystem functions being performed, discussing in turn the measures being considered to mitigate the frequency and magnitude of hydrologic extremes resulting from ongoing environmental changes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing floodplains using nature‐based solutions to support multiple ecosystem functions and services

et al. 2021

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“…As a result, many LRIs, and especially floodplains, are characterised by high urbanisation rates (Monk et al 2019). For example, the spatial extent of rivers and floodplains around the city of Kumasi (Ghana) decreased by 83% between 1985 and 2003 (from 38km 2 to 6km 2 ) (Amoateng et al 2018). Urban areas therefore play a pivotal role in supporting sustainable development across the LRI.…”

Section: Urbanisation In Floodplains and The Wider Catchmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Place-based interpretation of the sustainable development goals for the land-river interface

et al. 2022

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The land–river interface (LRI) is important for sustainable development. The environmental processes that define the LRI support the natural capital and ecosystem services that are linked directly to multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, existing approaches to scale up or down SDG targets and link them to natural capital are insufficient for the two-way human–environment interactions that exist in the LRI. Therefore, this study proposes a place-based approach to interpret the SDG framework to support sustainable land/water management, by (i) identifying key priorities for sustainable development through a normative content analysis of the SDG targets, and (ii) illustrating these priorities and associated challenges within the LRI, based on a literature review and case-studies on human–environment interactions. The content analysis identifies three overarching sustainable development priorities: (i) ensuring improved access to resources and services provided by the LRI, (ii) strengthening the resilience of the LRI to deal with social and natural shocks, and (iii) increasing resource efficiency. The review of the current state of LRIs across the world confirms that these are indeed priority areas for sustainable development. Yet, the challenges of attaining the sustainable development priorities in the LRI are also illustrated with three examples of development-related processes. Urbanisation, dam construction, and aggregate mining occur within specific zones of the LRI (land, land–river, river, respectively), but their impacts can compromise sustainable development across the entire LRI and beyond. The existence of these unintended impacts highlights the need to consider the geomorphic, hydrological, and ecological processes within the LRI and how they interact with human activity. Identifying the place-based priorities and challenges for sustainable development will help achieve the SDGs without compromising the functions and services of the LRI.

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“…Utilization of remotely sensed data to estimate spatial expansion, as an indicator of urbanization is commonly practiced worldwide (Amoateng et al, 2018;Pham et al, 2019;Su et al, 2011). The spatial expansion of this study was quanti ed using built-up area and population data (Fig.…”

Section: Quanti Cation Of Spatial Growth and Population Density Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The qualitative analysis was conducted by expert interview (e.g., Amoateng et al, 2018;Hasan et al, 2021). Therefore, it is a descriptive and qualitative approach.…”

Section: Qualitative Data Collection and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial dynamics of urbanization and refugees’ settlements: Case study evidence using mixed method

Islam

Charlesworth

Rabbi³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Urbanization needs to conceptualize beyond the city boundaries by exploring complex and interconnected interdependencies in regional key driving factors that can have tele-coupling effects during sudden shocks. Massive refugee settlement has a robust inter-linkage to the spatial and socio-ecological dynamics in local, regional contexts in both global south and North Countries. This study aims to explore the spatial dimension of urbanization in a regional transition context focusing on the newly built refugee settlement in the south-eastern coastal area of Bangladesh. For locational proximity and comparatively easy escape from Myanmar after domestic conflicts, over one million Rohingya have settled in the rural/forest area in Cox’s Bazar. Analysis of openly available global data products from historical built-up expansion from 1975 to 2021 suggests that refugee settlements impact spatial development intensity and population density dimensions, which have a transition (rural-to-urban) of a greater regional scale than local urbanization. Although our results from the expert-based key informant interviews have a broad agreement with the quantitative findings; however, the environmental, socio-economic, and cultural impacts are more local than findings from the geospatial analysis. Therefore, the local development policies need an urgent adjustment to comply with the local and regional balances in the above factors, along with international development actors may also need attentive measures in the policy formulation. Further investigations in scenario-based urbanization dynamics are required to avoid an urban desert initiated in the absence or relocation of refugee settlement. Similar kinds of studies may also be replicated even in prosperous global north countries in order to conceptualize the spatial transformative process of rapid migration influx on urbanization with innovative open data in the absence of up-to-date official datasets and adoptions of mixed approaches including related actors and policymakers.

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Dwindling rivers and floodplains in Kumasi, Ghana: A socio-spatial analysis of the extent and trend

Cited by 28 publications

References 27 publications

Managing floodplains using nature‐based solutions to support multiple ecosystem functions and services

Managing floodplains using nature‐based solutions to support multiple ecosystem functions and services

Place-based interpretation of the sustainable development goals for the land-river interface

Spatial dynamics of urbanization and refugees’ settlements: Case study evidence using mixed method

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