The main objective of the study was to investigate the demographic characteristics of the population that have affinity for wetland settlements in Ghana to establish some basic facts and data needed for policy formulation and decision-making. Wetlands are defined to include swamps, bogs, marshes, fens, peatlands, floodplains and coastal areas (Zedler and Kercher, 2005). They also include edge habitats of plants and animals along rivers, streams and lakes (Lomnicky et al., 2019). Their sources of water include rains, surface flow, springs and floods (Sah and Heinen, 2001). All continents have a network of temporary, perennial and permanent wetlands along their coasts, rivers, lakes, streams and in some depressions. Wetlands are mostly undeveloped areas which can easily be converted into agriculture lands and industrial development areas (Wood et al., 2013; Hachigonta et al., 2013; Rebelo et al., 2010). They make up about 5–8.5% of the world’s land surface, that is about 7–10 million km2 (Mitsch and Gosselink 2007). The extent of wetlands coverage in Africa lacks accurate data (Schuijt, 2002) however, it is estimated to be between 1% (World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC), 1992) and 16% (Koohafkan, 1998). Zedler and Kercher (2005) also estimate it to be 2%, while Rebelo, et al. (2009) estimate 4.7% for sub-Saharan Africa, which corresponds to the 228 million hectares of Bergkamp et al. (2000) and Matthew and Fung (1987).
Wetlands were considered as swamps lands that bred diseases, impeded overland travel and the production of food and fiber and therefore not useful for human survival (Tebeau, 1980). They were regarded mostly as wastelands, unpleasant and unhealthy environments (Patrick Jr., 1994), and obstacles to development and therefore must be destroyed to make available the land for beneficial purposes such as agricultural, urban and industrial uses (Tebeau, 1980; Patrick Jr., 1994). However, since the last century, society’s view about wetlands have changed considerably, especially with better and in-depth knowledge about their values. There is more interest in their protection, management and preservation (Dahl and Allord, 1982). They are considered as highly fertile plain landscape topography (Foziah, 2009) which have played important roles in the history of human development. The fertile plains of the rivers Nile, Euphrates, Tigris and Indus propelled the economic bases that produced the high cultures of the Egyptians, Sumerians and the Harappas about 5000 to 4000 years ago (Hammerton, 1972; Boule, 1994), and according to the Ramsar Convention (2018), wetlands provide critical support to seven (7) of the seventeen (17) main Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations. Wetlands exhibit a wide range of functional attributes that benefits humanity, including water purification and storage, shoreline protection, processing of nutrients, assurance of food security and support of biodiversity for animals and plants (Ramsar Convention, 2018; Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). They contain 10–20% of the global terrestrial carbon (Mitsch and Gosselink, 2007), retain sediments and toxicants (Kent, 2000) and serve as ecological balance systems (Root et al., 2003). Wetlands also provide construction materials, serve as basis for rich cultural tradition (van Dam et al., 2011) and other economic activities (Wood et al., 2013; Hachigonta et al., 2013; Rebelo et al., 2010). Other functions include the provision of fuelwood, medicinal resources, genetic resources, transport systems, energy, climate stabilization, and storage and recycling of organic waste (De Groot, 1992; Roggeri, 1995).
Since 4000BC, during the Neolithic times, wetlands have been sites for subsistence settlements (Kooijmas, 1987). Early human beings settled close to water bodies and their wetlands to benefit from their fresh water, natural water treatment, food, fibre and construction materials. In fact, many of the world’s urban cities are built along rivers and their wetlands (Kingsford et al., 2016) and many local communities in almost all parts of the world depend on the wetlands for their many functional services (Morrison et al., 2013; van Dam et. al., 2011; Ozesmi and Bauer, 2002). However, increasing population has resulted in extensive wetland reclamation for agriculture and urban construction and expansion activities (Wang and Ma, 2016). Other human activities that negatively affect wetlands include airborne particulate fallouts (Lomnicky et al., 2019), construction of flood control systems including levees, dams and wells (Fretwell et al., 1996), and water management and land drainage projects (Dahl et al., 1991). Wetland functions can be overwhelmed in areas of heavy human activities (Mitsch and Gosselink, 2000) and since these activities have always exploited the productivity of wetlands, their overexploitation has become an increasing problem (Stone, 2003). Wetlands are under increasing threat (Mafabi, 2000; Owino and Ryan, 2007) and despite their importance, globally they are shrinking at a rate faster than other ecosystems, especially in developing countries (Nicholls, 2004) mainly due to human activities (Johnson, 1994; Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005: Jacob, et al 2014). Researchers have different estimates for the extent of global wetland depletion. Nicholls (2004) estimates it as 50% since 1900, whereas Hu et al. (2017) put the global loss at 33% since 2009. Kingsford (2016) asserts that about 70% of the world’s wetlands is already destroyed or impaired and based on existing data in several regions, Davidson (2014) also asserts that not only is 87% of the world’s wetlands degraded since 1700 but also these degradations occurred mostly in the 20th and early 21st centuries.
Since wetlands are among the world’s most important productive ecosystems (Zedler and Kercher, 2005; Wang and Ma, 2016) and the human benefits that accrue from maintaining them greatly outweighs converting them to other land uses such as agriculture (Maclean, et al., 2011; Schuyt, 2005), they must be protected or be used sustainably (Sabic et al., 2013) at worse. Considering the current rate of wetland depletion, especially in Africa (Quevauviller, 2009), there is the need to provide sound policies, structures and guidelines to aid its protection, management, conservation and sustainable use. Many African countries are signing the Ramsar Convention, which also indicates a growing interest and commitment to sustainable wetland management (Schuijt, 2002). However, the future of wetlands in Africa lies in the hands of sound policies (Kabii, 1996). Many tropical countries still require national wetland policies and structures to enforce their protection and sustainable management (Junk, 2002). For efficient protection of wetlands, there must be provision of data to bridge science and policy (Cools et al., 2013). There is insufficient data for policy-decision makers in wetland management (Martinez-Harms et al., 2015; Foster et al., 2015). Laws, statutes and policies for the determination, delineation, regulation, restoration, acquisition, incentives and disincentives and permits to use wetlands must be backed by scientific data (Kent, 2000). The need for data and information to support wetland management is multi-scalar: global, regional, national, local to guide policy formulation and decision making (Finlayson and Spiers, 1999). The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment also underscores the importance of the availability of a comprehensive information base for the understanding of the status and trends, values and major drivers of change of wetlands (Finlayson, et al., 2005; Wetlands International, 2005). Though the challenges with regard to the provision of data and information for understanding wetlands prevail on all continents (Cools et al., 2013), the scarcity is worse in much of the developing world where encroachment and degradation proceed at an unprecedented rate (Quevauviller, 2009). This paper contributes to the provision of data for policy-decision making to facilitate sustainable wetland management in Ghana (Anderson, 1998) by investigating the demographic characteristics of the population with the affinity for wetland settlement in the country.
1.1 Characteristics of Population with Affinity for Wetland Settlement
A major reason given by Schuijt (2002) for the reclamation and use of wetlands in developing countries is the rising poverty, since many who settle on wetlands are from poor areas (Sabic et al., 2013). Infield (1988), Newmark et al. (1993) and McGregor (1995) are also of the view that poorer people are more dependent on natural products such as wetlands. For Badola (1997), it is part of the tradition and culture of people of lower socio-economic strata to use natural resources such as wetlands. In other words, mostly, the economically marginalized depend on wetland resources for their livelihood (Ozesmi, 1999) since they are mostly unskilled or unqualified workers (Sabic, 2013). The poorer status of those who have affinity for wetland settlement is reflected in the higher unemployment rates (Foziah, 2009; Ozesmi, 1999; Tyler, 2011) and low paid jobs (Tyler, 2011; Pattison et. al., 2011) prevalent at these settlements. These jobs are mostly in the primary sector including fishing, grazing, reed harvesting (Ozesmi and Bauer, 2002), agriculture and labor-class works (Foziah, 2009) and temporary service-based employment (Tyler, 2011). Wetland settlers are mostly part of the local population who depend on the nearby wetland for food and other services (Morrison et al., 2013; Ozesmi and Bauer, 2002), and who usually have lower educational background since literate population has lower dependency on wetland resources (Foziah, 2009). Those who reside at wetlands are mostly young and active (Tyler, 2011).
1.2 Wetlands in Ghana
Wetlands constitute about 10% of the Ghana’s total land surface, comprising marine/coastal, inland, and man-made systems (Ministry of Lands and Forestry 1999). Until recently, wetlands were considered as "waste lands" and breeding grounds for mosquitoes in Ghana. As such, they were dredged to facilitate water drainage, reclaimed for socio-economic activities and used as dumping grounds for wastes. However, the Ministry of Lands and Forestry Ghana (MLFG) in June 1999 launched the National Land Policy which precluded practices such as physical draining of wetland water, the draining of water courses of wetlands and unapproved human settlements and anthropogenic activities on wetlands (Republic of Ghana, 1999). Moreover, since 1971, when the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention, 1971) came into force, more interests have been shown in Ghana about wetlands. In the early 199Os, the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) of Ghana was launched by the then Environmental Protection Council (EPC). The program, which was sponsored by the World Bank and the United Nations Environment Program was to concentrate on areas of environmental concern to the government and people of Ghana (Government of Ghana (GoG), 1994). NEAP covered all aspects of natural resource use in Ghana, including wetland ecosystems. The third of the NEAP’s seven research objectives focused on the assessment of the socio-economic conditions of wetland settlements including demographic characteristics (Anderson, 1998). However, much of the research activities in wetlands concerning Ghana has concentrated on mapping of wetlands (such as in Nyarko, 2007; Gumma et al., 2009; Nsor and Obodai, 2014; Adade et al., 2017; Ekuma et al., 2020), health condition and environmental impact of wetlands (Ryan et al., 2000; Attuquayefio and Gbogbo, 2001; Opoku, 2013; Kumi et al., 2015) and wetland management (Armah, 1993; Asomani-Boateng, 2019). Few researches included some demographic characteristics (such as in Opoku, 2013 and Kumi et al., 2015). Thus this study focused mainly on investigating the demographic characteristics of the population that have affinity for wetland settlement, not only to contribute in filling the gap identified by the NEAP (Anderson 1998) but more importantly to provide data to facilitate policy-decision making about wetlands in Ghana.