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The rains are disappointing us: dynamic vulnerability and adaptation to multiple stressors in the Afram Plains, Ghana

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Abstract

This paper builds on work on the dynamics of vulnerability and multiple stressors through a case study in the Afram Plains of the Eastern region in Ghana. A vulnerability framework is applied in the community of Mimkyemfre to identify and explain the multiple underlying political, socioeconomic and environmental forces that influence the ways in which people are exposed and sensitive to climate, and their capacities to adapt to changing conditions. The results of the study indicate that the community experiences a range of biophysical and socioeconomic conditions that contribute to its vulnerability. Vulnerability was found to change over time and in some cases was cyclical, in that certain actions taken for the purposes of adaptation were found to exacerbate existing vulnerabilities. Processes of vulnerability were also found to occur at several scales and were experienced unevenly at the community level. The findings of this assessment have important implications for the design and implementation of successful adaptation initiatives, both in Africa and elsewhere. In particular, they demonstrate the need to understand the social, economic and institutional challenges to development as a basis for any contemplation of adaptation to climate change.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the following for their assistance in the completion of the study: the community of Mimkyemfre; Francis Dika Bonsu, Gratias Atikpli and Simon Kakraba; Petra Tschakert and the Climate Change Learning and Observatory Network Ghana (CCLONG) project; Francis Dodoo, Nii Ardey Codjoe and the members of the Regional Institute for Population Studies (Ghana) and the Advancing Capacity to Support Climate Change Adaptation (ACCCA) project; the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC); and the Canada Research Chairs Program. This paper benefited from helpful suggestions from two anonymous reviewers and contributions by Mark Andrachuk, Adam Bonnycastle, Katie Dietrich and Johanna Wandel.

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  1. University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada

    Lisa Westerhoff & Barry Smit

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  1. Lisa Westerhoff
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  2. Barry Smit
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Correspondence to Lisa Westerhoff.

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Westerhoff, L., Smit, B. The rains are disappointing us: dynamic vulnerability and adaptation to multiple stressors in the Afram Plains, Ghana. Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change 14, 317–337 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11027-008-9166-1

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