Traditional and Local Knowledge Practices for Disaster Risk Reduction in Northern Ghana

Ngwese, Nsioh Macnight, Saito, Osamu, Sato, Akiko, Boafo, Yaw Agyeman and Jasaw, Godfred, (2018). Traditional and Local Knowledge Practices for Disaster Risk Reduction in Northern Ghana. Sustainability, 10(3), 1-17

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    Author Ngwese, Nsioh Macnight
    Saito, Osamu
    Sato, Akiko
    Boafo, Yaw Agyeman
    Jasaw, Godfred
    Title Traditional and Local Knowledge Practices for Disaster Risk Reduction in Northern Ghana
    Appearing in Sustainability
    Volume 10
    Issue No. 3
    Publication Date 2018-03-15
    Place of Publication Online
    Publisher MDPI AG
    Start page 1
    End page 17
    Language eng
    Abstract In order to deal with recurrent disasters, like floods and droughts coupled with the limited adaptive capacity, in the semiarid regions of Northern Ghana, local communities have no choice but to apply traditional and local knowledge practices. This study seeks to identify such practices employed in selected rural communities in Northern Ghana and to investigate their effectiveness. Data were collected through key informant interviews, household questionnaire surveys, focus group discussions, and participant observations. The findings indicated that although diverse practices were applied to predict and manage local disaster events, skepticism prevailed among locals toward these practices regarding their effectiveness. Due to the lack of science-based tools and systems for disaster prediction and management, local communities continually depended on these knowledge systems and practices. Integrating local and traditional disaster risk reduction (DRR) efforts into modern scientific knowledge should be encouraged in order to reduce the vulnerability of local communities to disasters with thorough effectiveness evaluation protocols.
    UNBIS Thesaurus TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE
    Keyword Disasters
    Disaster risk reduction
    Local knowledge
    Coping practices
    Copyright Holder The Authors
    Copyright Year 2018
    Copyright type Creative commons
    DOI 10.3390/su10030825
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    Created: Tue, 20 Mar 2018, 11:57:49 JST by PEGUES, Susan Scott on behalf of UNU IAS