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The Impacts of Climate Change on Livelihoods in Northern Ghana: Could Shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) Ecosystem Services Be a Panacea?

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The reality of climate change in the northern regions of Ghana is noticeable among the inhabitants of the territory. One of the obvious impacts of climate change is the reduction in numbers and yield of the indigenous cash tree, shea tree in the region. This study explored the influence of ecosystem services of shea tree in promoting the adaptation strategies among community members of the Lawra Municipality of the Upper West Region. This study involved a stratified sample of 387 community members and four key informants. Using mixed-research methods and guided by environmentally-specific transformational leadership theory, this study revealed that the shea tree provides ecosystem services such as provisional ecosystem services, regulating ecosystem services, supporting ecosystem services and cultural ecosystem services. The specific services include food, income, cosmetic, buffer, habitat, shelter, microclimates, absorb flood, folktales, aesthetic, and traditional knowledge. The one-way Anova results showed that the provisional and regulating ecosystem services significantly differed across zones, age and educational levels of participants. Second, the study showed that ecosystem services significantly contribute to climate change adaptation among the inhabitants of Lawra municipality. The Ordinary Least Square results (B = 0.001, t = 0.03, p = 0.977*) showed that supporting ecosystem services have a significant and positive impact on climate change adaptation. This study recommends that policy makers should take active role in providing effective climate change and adaptation communication plan to enhance climate change response among communities in Ghana.

Source: American Journal of Climate Change

DOI: 10.4236/ajcc.2025.142021

Authors: Marcelinus Dery, Manasseh Jonah Bangmarigu, Komi Agboka, Alagie Bah, Mamma Sawaneh

Institutions: West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use, University of Cape Coast, University of Lomé, World Agroforestry Centre

Language: English

Topic: Land Use and Ecosystem Services

Subfield: Global and Planetary Change

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Life on land, Climate action

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W4411827647