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Rural electrification has been one of the challenges faced by the government of Ghana due to extremely high cost of electricity extension to the rural areas. In order to meet up this challenge, the government of Ghana has been keen with the introduction of renewable energy programs as a solution for rural electrification. However, most of programs are also faced with the problem of being sustainable. After government and sponsors hand-over completed project to local users, they usually last only few years of their life span and are abandoned. This challenge has inspired this study to identify the potential barriers to the sustainability of rural electrification programs through technical and socio-economic evaluation of a solar PV rural electrification project in Ghana.
The approach of this study selected an on-going solar PV project (community solar system-CSS), that has been introduced on a pilot base across the whole of Ghana, which is to be adopted as a standard system for electrification solutions in rural areas in Ghana. This project was subjected to both technical and socio-economic evaluations covering 13 rural communities across the southern part of the country. Stakeholder interviews and review of literature were additional methodologies employed to gather information pertinent to the theme of the study.
The results of the study show that technically, the CSS project has simple design and operational technologies, which gives it high integration potential. However, the project faces the problem of technology misuse by the rural users and frequent failure of its components. The socio-economic barriers identified are: (1) ineffective management of the project due to a long chain of bureaucratic administrative management system, inadequate monitoring and supervision, and inconsistency in standardizing the cash flow of the project, and (2) low electricity capacity of the CSS project and other similar small scale renewable projects to meet the electricity requirements of the rural populates. These problems lead to gradual decline of users’ interest for such small scale renewable energy projects and subsequently result in project abandonment. It was concluded that small scale renewable energy programs lack the capacity to fully meet the energy requirement of rural populates; however, they are crucial as intervening solutions and play key role in rural development.
Being one of Ukraine’s major sources of economic revenue, the country’s agro-industrial sector proved, at the same time, to be perhaps the most vulnerable branch of economy in the times of political and social turbulence. While the state is searching for the ways of strengthening its positions at the global market, its agricultural potential to a considerable extent remains both under- and misused. Based on comprehensive historic analysis, this research establishes the origins of the current situation and assesses the possibilities of positive change. Utilizing the experience of other European countries’ with regards to making agriculture more sustainable and competitive in the modern world, the author describes the ways of applying these practices against the background of Ukrainian socio-political system. Drawing knowledge from the experience of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) worldwide, this research aims at harmonizing their methods with evaluation demands in Ukrainian agriculture. It discusses and criticizes the existing assessment approach and suggests measures necessary for making it more comprehensive. The author offers profound analysis of Ukrainian agricultural policies to date, reviews national regulating directives and outlines country-specific challenges as to improving agricultural sustainability. In order to provide Ukrainian decision-makers with a clear and all-round tool for assessing the advances and failures of the acting state policies in the AIS, a set of reliable indices for evaluating agricultural performance has been developed by the author, which is largely based on the widely-acknowledged Driving Force – State – Response framework offered by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Human Development Index (HDI) from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) methodology. At the same time, the newly developed set takes into consideration the peculiarities of Ukrainian socio-political setting. Three major categories of indicators were chosen as a backbone for further elaboration, namely economic, social and political. Therefrom results a list of twelve relevant indices. At the concluding stage of the research, they were processed and transformed to three top-level indices: Economic Development Index, Environmental Situation Index and Social Development Index. These three indices are intended for clear and illustrative presentation of the current situation for high level decision-makers and governmental bodies. Methodology utilized for the purposes of this research with necessary adaptation and fine tuning can also be used with other set of initial data, indicators and indices. Application field can also be downscaled from the highest (national) to the lowest (regional) level by adapting the indicator-indices system to the initial input data. This will considerably simplify the compilation and presentation of regional reports and will provide transparency for interregional comparison within the country.
Yemen is one of the most water-stressed countries in the world. The water deficit has been aggravated by the rapidly increasing demands for both surface and groundwater resources that are being unsustainably exploited. To address the country’s severe water scarcity, the government has adopted long-term intervention policies as stated in ‘Yemen's Strategic Vision 2025’. These policies are aimed at restoring the balance between water demand and availability, and at reducing the existing water deficit. Although 11 years have passed since this vision was adopted, the water deficit is still on the rise. The present situation raises questions about the efficiency of the intervention policies adopted by ‘Yemen's Strategic Vision 2025’ and about the effectiveness of implementing these policies. Another fundamental question pertains to the availability of a strategic assessment tool in the water resources sector that can be used to assess strategically future and current policies, strategies and plans, in order to ensure their efficiency in supporting water resources and in producing the positive impacts for which these strategic initiatives were developed in the first place. Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is an assessment tool designed to function at a strategic level and help to bring aspects of environmental sustainability into the decisionmaking process. This research aims to demonstrate the potential of SEA in enhancing environmental sustainability in water policies for achieving sustainability of water resources in Yemen. In order to show the potential of SEA in the Yemeni water resources sector, this research has applied SEA methodologies and adopted a scenario-building approach for assessing the intervention policies adopted by ‘Yemen's Strategic Vision 2025’ to support augmentation of water resources. Qualitative and quantitative approaches have been used in this research. Quantitative historical data on water availability, water demand and water savings by interventions have been collected from the databases of national institutions and international organizations concerned. Statistical analyses have been used to project future trends until 2025. Qualitative analyses of relevant studies and reports covering the environmental, administrative, sociocultural and political-economic aspects of water resources management in Yemen have been implemented as well. In addition, 13 semi-structured key informant interviews have been conducted with decision-makers, managers and leading experts in the water and irrigation sectors. The research produced three future scenarios for the total water balance that may play out until 2025 in Yemen. These scenarios provide impact assessment and alternatives’ comparison of the existing intervention policies. The resulting scenarios are as follows: the ‘Business as Usual’ scenario, which forms an assessment of currently applied interventions and provides an image for the future, if current interventions are maintained at the same pace; the ‘Do-nothing’ scenario representing the situation if no interventions are implemented; and the ‘Sustainability’ scenario, which represents the potential future of the total water balance if existing interventions are to be scaled up and out. The findings confirm the significant potential of currently adopted intervention policies to support water resources. They also reveal that the current level of implementing the intervention policies has hindered the potential of these intervention policies in achieving the expected positive impact on the water balance by 2025. In order to achieve a significant decrease in the water deficit, the strategic quantitative targets that need to be implemented were identified. The methodology followed in implementing the research and achieving the findings demonstrates the potential of SEA in enhancing environmental sustainability in water policies for achieving integrated and sustainable water resources management in Yemen. The recommendations of the research covered improving the existing water balance as well as improving the assessment and planning context in the water resources sector. In order to improve the water balance situation, the research recommends implementing quantitative targets for water savings and augmentations, such as those developed by this research. These targets have been identified based on the capacities of sectors implementing these interventions. The research also recommends further decentralization of planning and management of water resources and the establishment of Water User Associations (WUAs) as the main vehicles for ensuring sustainable planning and management of water resources, including the scale out of interventions, subject to assessment in this research. In order to improve assessment and planning of water resources, the research recommends the adoption of SEA, the updating of water resources data and conducting regular assessments of policies, plans and programmes as part of monitoring their impact and providing a chance for amending these policies and strategies, if required, to achieve sustainability of water resources.
Recycling and material recovery are gaining more grounds in applicability as viable options to sustainable solid waste management especially in Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) schemes. In this dissertation a critical analyzes is made of the MSWM problem in Cameroon and an assessment of the role Small- and Medium-Size Enterprises have been playing in the area of recycling and material recovery. The main research methods applied in this research include: fieldwork, administration of questionnaires, interview and literature review. Using two case study localities (Limbe and Buea municipalities), the various practices in MSWM are elaborated, the constraints and challenges faced by management discussed and proposals for either expanding/upgrading existing schemes to be more sustainable as well as strategies to initiate new systems presented. Innovations within collection systems such as the introduction of household bins and specialized collection of specific waste could be quite beneficial to existing schemes. Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) which constitute one of the fastest growing waste streams presents greater management challenges. Two case study localities (Buea and Kumba) are used to analyze the problem of WEEE in Cameroon. An overview of the handling of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) at end-of-life (EoL) in Cameroon is made with special focus on households and repair units. At household level, WEEE is disposed of alongside other waste arisings in the available disposal facilities for given household. Repair units represent a very vital connection between dysfunctional EEE and EoL forms as all users of EEE tend to bring these devices to these units for repairs. An inventory of the various EEE at repair units for these two localities shows that above 40% percent of such equipments are totally out of use. In Kumba, Classes 1 and 4 EEE (according to EU WEEE directive classification) dominate while class 3 is almost absent. In Buea, Class 3 and 4 are dominant. These results show that socio-cultural, economic and even climatic factors influence the choice of EEE that people in this area acquire. The intense level of repair activities and recovery of useful parts by repair units show that there exist adaptable options to handle WEEE in especially economically and environmentally beneficial ways. The recycling of aluminum for production of household utensils represents a very basic and adaptive industrial set-up, which can easily be operated and run at very cheap cost and with a little manpower. While this venture seems apparently successful in economic terms as an option to poverty alleviation through income generation, it is plagued by some problems which, if given due consideration will render it a prospective option for poverty alleviation (through small enterprise business development) and environmental sustainability (as an option to sustainable MSWM). In this dissertation, a model is thus presented, which can be utilized by stakeholders to improve on the sector. An assessment of efforts and constraints to implementing comprehensive recycling and recovery schemes in Cameroon was also carried out. Results show that there are existing practices on which comprehensive recycling and recovery can be built upon that would be beneficial to both councils and engaged schemes – mostly SMEs and NGOs. The challenges faced and likely to be faced and the way forward to implementing any broad scale recovery and recycling are presented. If municipal councils choose to operate existing MSWM schemes without significant changes, then collective collaboration will be highly required. Such collaboration will present benefits to both waste collection and disposal. On the other hand, if they wish to expand schemes or create new schemes, adaptive innovation would be highly recommended. Such adaptive innovation would have to incorporate local practices and approaches of MSWM as well as socio-economic considerations so as to ensure new or expanded schemes survive within local socio-economic context. A greater challenge in enhancing recycling and material recovery in particular and MSWM in general, in Cameroon is on the role the government takes on designing appropriate policies and legislative frameworks to cover such activities in economically and ecological beneficial ways. In the absence of these, SMEs, councils and NGOs (working in partnership with other specialized groups) concerned with activities related to recycling and material recovery may be left with the option of regulating activities within their sectors as such activities stand to alleviate poverty and also present ecological benefits.
In the quest of finding sustainable solution to solid waste management problems in Ghana, this research formulated as its goal, to mitigate policy constraints to sustainable solid waste management in Ghana. This research goal and objectives were addressed through an empirical study that involved interviews and administration of two sets of questionnaires, one set to members of parliament and the other to members of the general public. The development of questionnaires was influenced by a conceptual policy development model “The Bridge Model of Policy Development”. Administration of questionnaires to members of the general public was accomplished through random sampling within churches and mosques in three cities in Ghana; Accra, Kumasi, and Takoradi. The percentage response for members of the general public was 38.9% and that for members of parliament was 18%. Prioritization of policy options was achieved through “Differentiated Perception Ranking”, a method devised by this research process. The results revealed the relative importance of constraints to sustainable solid waste management in Ghana, the relative difficulty of mitigating constraints, and the relative difficulty of implementing policy options among others. These results were integrated with the principles of sustainability into producing a policy package for sustainable solid waste management in Ghana.
Die vorliegende Arbeit beinhaltet eine Nutzungspotentialbewertung einer Bergbaufolgelandschaft (BFL). Mit Hilfe einer zielorientierten Nutzwertanalyse werden die Potentiale Landschaft, Infrastruktur, Wirtschaft, Arbeitsplätze, Ökologie und Nachfrage bewertet und die Gunstfaktoren des Untersuchungsgebietes (UG) herausgestellt, um mögliche Handlungsvorschläge zu geben. Leitbild des UG ist eine den gegebenen Bedingungen entsprechende nachhaltige Entwicklung einer BFL. Eine einst vom Abbau der Braunkohle lebende Region sucht ein neues Gesicht und Möglichkeiten, die durch den Tagebaubetrieb völlig veränderten Bedingungen der Landschaft, Infrastruktur, Wirtschaft, Arbeitsplätze, Ökologie, Nachfrage neu zu formieren. In einer von der Autorin eigens für diese Untersuchung entworfenen Matrix werden die Bewertungsergebnisse räumlich veranschaulicht. In Kopplung mit der Darstellung der mathematisch strukturierten Ergebnisse im Nachhaltigkeitsdreieck wird verdeutlicht, welche ökonomischen, sozialen und ökologischen Bedingungen im UG zu erwarten sind. Vor allem aus der Darstellung der Ergebnisse in der Matrix ist erkennbar, wo im UG welche Potentialfaktoren besonders günstig sind bzw. welche Kombination voneinander positiv beeinflussender Potentiale wo auftreten. Das UG wird sich nicht gleichmäßig entwickeln. Es wird entsprechend einer Knoten-Achsen-Struktur Entwicklungsschwerpunkte geben. Die Wirtschaft und die sozialen Beziehungen als Wachstumspole werden besonders in den Knoten gefördert. Die Achsen erstrecken sich entlang der infrastrukturellen Erschließung über den Rand des Gebietes hinaus und sorgen für eine Anbindung an das Umland. Das UG besitzt sehr günstige ökologische Potentiale, die bei der weiteren Entwicklung unbedingt berücksichtigt werden sollten. Als wenig günstig stellt sich das Potential der Wirtschaft heraus. Das bedeutet, dass besonders Anstrengungen zur Verbesserung der wirtschaftlichen Basis in diesem Gebiet unternommen werden müssen. Schlechte ökonomische Bedingungen ziehen rasch verschlechternde soziale Verhältnisse nach sich. Das UG befindet sich in einer Region, die von Entleerungstendenzen gekennzeichnet ist. Aus diesem Grund ist es wichtig, eine stabile und vielfältige Wirtschaft zu schaffen. Mit dem Totalausfall der ehemaligen wirtschaftlichen Basis, dem Braunkohlenabbau, müssen hier neue Wege gegangen werden, die zudem das ökologische Potential des UG unterstreichen. So genannte „Leuchttürme“ sollten das Gebiet wirtschaftlich wieder attraktiv machen und der Region eine neue Lebenschance geben. Die Autorin stellt Möglichkeiten der touristischen Nutzung vor und plädiert für die Nutzung alternativer Energien und nachwachsender Rohstoffe. Im UG muss Mut zu neuen Wirtschaftsstrukturen bewiesen werden. Je vielfältiger die neuen Möglichkeiten genutzt werden, desto stabiler wird die wirtschaftliche Basis. Je solider sich die ökonomische Grundlage festigt, desto günstiger wirkt sich das auf die sozialen Bedingungen aus. Die ökologische Gunst sollte von Anfang an bei der Gestaltung der Wirtschaft und der Entwicklung neuer Infrastruktur berücksichtigt werden. Dies wurde nicht zuletzt auch durch die Nachfrage bestätigt. Mögliche Ausgänge der Entwicklung werden in Szenarien beschrieben, in denen absichtlich die gegebenen Bedingungen in einer überspitzen Form weitergedacht werden, um das Wesentliche der möglichen Entwicklung darzustellen. Das Besondere der BFL sollte nicht nur als geschichtliche Erinnerung, sondern als raumprägendes Element erkennbar bleiben.
Cultural heritage faces many types of threats such as neglect, conflicts, disasters caused by natural and human induced hazards, unplanned infrastructure projects, climate change, etc. Over time, a number of institutions, organisations, programmes and initiatives to address the issues related to heritage at risk through varied modes of interventions such as advocacy work, conservation efforts, funding, awareness-raising regarding particular sites, etc. have emerged. Despite the stimulus and support of the various institutions, organisations and initiatives, diverse threats continue to impact cultural heritage in present times with some factors amplifying more than before, leading to the subsequent damages to or losses of heritage assets. Though reasons for these issues are varied and complex, one of the important factors to look into is the agency of the diverse ‘Heritage at Risk’ programmes or initiatives. ICOMOS being one of the pioneers in this global discourse of threatened heritage, its role is strategically vital. 20 years after ICOMOS’s first attempts to initiate one of the first ‘Heritage at Risk’ programmes, this research is an opportunity to re-examine and analyse the effectiveness of ICOMOS’ ‘Heritage at Risk’ programme within the current organisational/ institutional landscape of initiatives in the field of heritage at risk, that ICOMOS is embedded in. It is also an opportunity to situate the programme within the diverse views of the heritage at risk framework and the continuing shifts in the foundational paradigms of the international discourse on heritage conservation. The purpose of this analysis is to guide programme improvement for optimising efforts in favour of cultural heritage at risk within and/ or beyond ICOMOS and improve their ability to contribute towards - safeguarding heritage at risk, increasing the resilience of cultural heritage and sustainable development.
The economic crises of the mid 1980s and 1990s due to a fall in economic productivity inflicted serious negative consequences on Cameroon’s forest ecosystems and forest resources which became the target of intense exploitation for multiple purposes. A forest policy reform at the behest of the World Bank was intended to regulate forest exploitation in a sustainable way. More than a decade since the inception of this policy, this study, through a three-tier methodological approach of survey, content analysis and observation, seeks to assess policy impacts per se, as well as the role of environmental communication in mitigating non-sustainable forest exploitation in Anglophone Cameroon. The study also investigates a valid and reliable option for the sustainable management of forest resources, by comparing and contrasting the two operational forest management paradigms. The outcome of the investigation reveals that both policy and environmental communication have a more positive impact in the community forest area than in the state-managed forest area, implying that the former is a better forest management option than the latter. However, forest sustainability is still at stake in both areas, due, generally, to bad forest governance such as corruption, minimal public participation, lack of transparency and accountability, as well as the ubiquitous presence of poverty, unemployment and inadequate public access to socio-economic development indicators. To this end, the study proffers some robust recommendations that if implemented will greatly enhance the badly needed forest sustainability.
With the increasing consciousness of the value of wetland ecological and environmental functions and its fast rate of decline in the size of this important and rich ecosystem globally, the Niger Delta ecosystem has been reported to be undergoing tremendous change, hence the need for this research, to identify the challenges and proffer solutions. This study focuses on ascertaining if a change has occurred in the Upper Orashi Forest Reserved wetland, to know and evaluate the policies used in managing the wetland in the region and Nigeria. To ascertain the wetland change, land cover change detection was carried out using Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing to produce paradigm or data to detect change occurrence in the wetland area. Supervised classification of land use and land cover change was carried out using LANDSAT data from 2002, 2008, and 2019. Thereafter, the land cover transition was mapped for the period 2002 to 2019 and this was computed for the net land cover change for the period of study. The site was classified into three different classes and each class was analyzed using the land use and land cover change model formula. The result from this part shows that there is a consistent decrease in the wetland area for the period under review and in the other two identified classes, some interchangeable compositions were observed for the period of study. To validate this result, the opinion of experts and the host community is needed. Two sets of questionnaires were designed for experts and local community dwellers to sample their opinion in relation to the wetland and its management. The information collected was analyzed using Microsoft excel and the result shows that changes have occurred in the wetland of Upper Orashi Forest (decrease in size and other challenging issues with respect to policies and regulations). This study has identified critical challenging issues facing wetlands in the region or driving factors of wetland loss in the study area. Thereafter making recommendations that will help address these issues to actualize environmental sustainability and sustainable wetland in the region and Nigeria at large.
Learning from the past, designing for the future : sustainability of the Mediterranean vernacular
(2020)
With climate change and the depleting ozone layer, awareness about protecting the environment is increasing and “Sustainable Architecture” is becoming an essential part of the architectural future of cities. However, sustainable buildings of today are being built with high cost, high tech systems which can be reduced by taking advantage of past technologies and systems. The brilliance of vernacular architecture and the way man adapted to his surroundings fascinated me and inspired me to do further research on the sustainable characteristics of vernacular settlements of the Mediterranean area in order to determine if these characteristics can be applied to present and future architecture in an innovative way to create sustainable buildings with least possible energy consumption.
The method of research was based upon a general analysis of the passive design (solar and wind) characteristics of a town or settlement in Mediterranean climate starting from its site elements such as topography, vegetation, water. After that its urban structure, such as the geometry, block and street orientation and dimensions. Following that, the dwelling characteristics like dwelling shape, orientation and dimensions and finally the thermal regulating elements found in these dwellings, such as windows and vegetation. These elements were given a score according to their contribution to energy savings in buildings. Four case studies were chosen: two vernacular case studies from the region of study (the Mediterranean Coasts) and two modern case studies inspired by the Mediterranean vernacular. The analysis was repeated in the same sequence mentioned: Site, Settlement, Dwelling, Element, for the actual performance of each case study. The elements were given a number of points out of the score assigned for each element in the general analysis.
A total score and rating for each case study resulted from this analysis. The objective of these scores were to compare the performance of the vernacular case studies to the vernacular inspired case studies in terms of energy savings. The final scores displayed comparable results between both types of case studies meaning that when these modern settlements were designed with an influence from the Mediterranean vernacular, their performance in energy savings was close to that of a vernacular settlement. That means that it is possible to design settlements which are influenced by vernacular settlements and can even defeat them by following the general guidelines of the vernacular passive design characteristics in addition to modern tools and innovative methods. These guidelines can be reflected in a handbook and rating system which can become a simple step by step guide for architects and planners to design sustainable settlements without the need for expensive and complicated rating systems and consultants.