Abstract
Local governments in developing countries are christened as proadaptation agents. However, global research effort has virtually ignored inherent adaptation policy implementation nuances in developing countries, ostensibly assuming that narratives from existing policy implementation literature could fill the void. Drawing on qualitative data from six LGs from Ghana, this paper examines the motivation, agenda setting processes and teething challenges constricting the implementation of decentralized climate change adaptation governance in Ghana. Though adherents of decentralization argue that local governments are more likely to conceive and implement proadaptation-related interventions, evidence from Ghana provides fascinating lessons. This paper shows that local governments’ ability to mainstream adaptation-related actions into local governance is constricted by taxonomy of local political economy issues and the “science-heaviness” of climate change. It concludes that local government are unlikely to be a fulcrum of adaptation governance as touted if reasonable efforts are not made at strengthening and broadening its resource basket.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adu-Boateng, A. (2015). Barriers to climate change policy responses for urban areas: a study of Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, Ghana. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 13, 49–57.
Aylett, A. (2013). The socio-institutional dynamics of urban climate governance: a comparative analysis of innovation and change in Durban (KZN, South Africa) and Portland (OR, USA). Urban Studies, 50(7), 1386–1402.
Aylett, A. (2014). Progress and challenges in the urban governance of climate change: Results of a global survey. Retrieved from http://espace.inrs.ca/id/eprint/2835 on Oct 20 2017.
Aylett, A. (2015). Institutionalizing the urban governance of climate change adaptation: Results of an international survey. Urban Climate, 14, 4–16.
Ahenkan A. & Musah-Surugu I. J. (2015). Financing Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Ghana: Prospects and challenges. International Journal of Sustainable Development, 4, 161–180.
Anckar, C. (2008). On the applicability of the most similar systems design and the most different systems design in comparative research. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 11(5), 389–401.
Bai, X. (2007). Integrating global environmental concerns into urban management: The scale and readiness arguments. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 11(2), 15–29.
Bawole, J. N. (2017). Pro-poor decentralization in Ghana: Exploring the facilitators and the limitations. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 39(2), 122–139.
Bloor, M., & Wood, F. (2006). Keywords in qualitative methods: A VOCABULARY OF RESEARCH CONCEPTS (1st ed.). London: SAGE Publications.
Brockhaus, M., & Kambiré, H. (2009). Decentralization: A window of opportunity for successful adaptation to climate change. In W. Neil Adger, Irene Lorenzoni & Karen L. O'Brien (Eds.), Adapting to climate change: Thresholds, values, governance (pp. 399–416).
Brunner, R. D. (1991). Global climate change: Defining the policy problem. Policy Sciences, 24(3), 291–311.
Bulkeley, H., & Kern, K. (2006). Local government and the governing of climate change in Germany and the UK. Urban Studies, 43(12), 2237–2259.
Codjoe, S. N. A., Atidoh, L. K., & Burkett, V. (2012). Gender and occupational perspectives on adaptation to climate extremes in the Afram Plains of Ghana. Climatic Change, 110(1–2), 431–454.
Crawford, G. (2008). Decentralization and the limits to poverty reduction: Findings from Ghana. Oxford Development Studies, 36(2), 235–258.
Crawford, G. (2009). Making democracy a reality? The politics of decentralisation and the limits to local democracy in Ghana. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 27(1), 57–83.
Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative enquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. London: Sage Publications.
Dietz, T., Ostrom, E., & Stern, P. C. (2003). The struggle to govern the commons. Science, 302, 1907–1912.
Doelle, M., & Belfry Munroe, K. (2012). Climate governance at the municipal level in Canada: A case study of mitigation efforts in Halifax. In B. J. Richardson (Ed.), Local Climate Law, Edward Elgar.
Dumenu, W. K., & Obeng, E. A. (2016). Climate change and rural communities in Ghana: Social vulnerability, impacts, adaptations and policy implications. Environmental Science & Policy, 55, 208–217.
Dupuis, J., & Biesbroek, R. (2013). Comparing apples and oranges: the dependent variable problem in comparing and evaluating climate change adaptation policies. Global Environmental Change, 23(6), 1476–1487.
Eguavoen, I. (2012). Blessing and destruction: Climate change and trajectories of blame in Northern Ghana = Bénédiction et destruction (No. 99). ZEF Working Paper Series.
EPA. (2000). Ghana’s initial national communication: Building under the United Nations framework convention on climate change. Accra: Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology.
Ford, J., Araos, M., Berrang-Ford, L., Biesbroek, R., & Moser, S. (2016). Climate change adaptation planning for Global South megacities: The case of Dhaka. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 18, 1–15.
Füssel, H. M. (2007). Adaptation planning for climate change: Concepts, assessment approaches, and key lessons. Sustainability Science, 2(2), 265–275.
Guest, G., Bunce, A., & Johnson, L. (2006). How many interviews are enough? An experiment with data saturation and variability. Field methods, 18(1), 59–82.
Hoppe, T., van den Berg, M. M., & Coenen, F. H. (2014). Reflections on the uptake of climate change policies by local governments: Facing the challenges of mitigation and adaptation. Energy, Sustainability and Society, 4(1), 8.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2014). Climate Change 2014–Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability: Regional aspects. Cambridge University Press.
Jones, L., Harvey, B., & Godfrey-Wood, R. (2016). The changing role of NGOs in supporting climate services. Resilience Intel, 4, 1–23.
Kane, Sally, & Yohe, Gary. (2000). Societal adaptation to climate variability and change: An introduction. In Sally Kane & Gary Yohe (Eds.), Societal adaptation to climate variability and change (pp. 1–4). Berlin: Springer.
Koppenjan, J. F. M., & Klijn, E. H. (2004). Managing uncertainties in networks: A network approach to problem solving and decision making. Hove: Psychology Press.
Krippendorff, K. (2012). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Beverly Hills: Sage.
Martins, R. D. A., & Ferreira, L. D. C. (2011). Opportunities and constraints for local and subnational climate change policy in urban areas: insights from diverse contexts. International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, 11(1), 37–53.
Mearns, R., & Norton, A. (2010). Social dimensions of climate change. Washington: World Bank.
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Beverly Hills: Sage.
Minia, Z. (2004). Climate scenarios developed for climate change impacts assessment in Ghana. The Netherlands Climate Change Studies Assistance Programme (NCCSAP). Phase2—Part, 1.
Musah-Surugu, I. J., Owusu. K., Yankson, P. W., & Ayisi. E., (2017). Mainstreaming climate change into local governance: Financing and budgetary compliance in selected local governments in Ghana: Development in Practice, Sage.
Nicholson, S. E. (2001). Climatic and environmental change in Africa during the last two centuries. Climate Research, 17(2), 123–144.
Obradovich, N., & Zimmerman, B. (2016). African voters indicate lack of support for climate change policies. Environmental Science & Policy, 66, 292–298.
Owusu, K., Obour, P. B., & Asare-Baffour, S. (2015). Climate variability and climate change impacts on smallholder farmers in the Akuapem North District, Ghana. In Walter Leal Filho (Ed.), Handbook of climate change adaptation (pp. 1791–1806). Berlin: Springer.
Pasquini, L., Cowling, R. M., & Ziervogel, G. (2013). Facing the heat: Barriers to mainstreaming climate change adaptation in local government in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Habitat International, 40, 225–232.
Pasquini, L., & Shearing, C. (2014). Municipalities, politics, and climate change: An example of the process of institutionalizing an environmental agenda within local government. The Journal of Environment & Development, 23, 271–293.
Pickard, V. (2016). Confronting market failure: Past lessons toward public policy interventions. In M. Lloyd & Lewis A. Friedland (Eds.), The communication crisis in America, and how to fix it (pp. 127–142). Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Pressman, J. L., & Wildavsky, A. B. (1984). Implementation: how great expectations in Washington are dashed in Oakland: or, why it’s amazing that federal programs work at all, this being a saga of the Economic Development Administration as told by two sympathetic observers who seek to build morals on a foundation of ruined hopes. Univ of California Press.
Ribot, J. C. (1999). Decentralisation, participation and accountability in Sahelian forestry: Legal instruments of political-administrative control. Africa, 69(1), 23–65.
Ribot, J. C., & Larson, A. M. (2005). Decentralization of natural resources: experiences in Africa, Asia and Latin America. London: Frank Cass.
Romero-Lankao, P. (2012). Governing carbon and climate in the cities: an overview of policy and planning challenges and options. European Planning Studies, 20(1), 7–26.
Rondinelli, D. A., & Cheema, G. S. (1983). Implementing decentralization policies: An introduction. In G. S. Cheema & D. A. Rondinelli (Eds.), Decentralization and development: Policy implementation in developing countries (pp. 9–34). Beverly Hill, CA: Sage.
Rootes, C., Zito, A., & Barry, J. (2012). Climate change, national politics and grassroots action: An introduction. Environmental Politics, 21(5), 677–690.
Ruwanza, S., & Shackleton, C. M. (2016). Incorporation of environmental issues in South Africa’s municipal integrated development plans. International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, 23(1), 28–39.
Ryan, D. (2015). From commitment to action: A literature review on climate policy implementation at city level. Climatic Change, 131(4), 519–529.
Saetren, H. (2005). Facts and myths about research on public policy implementation: Out-of-fashion, allegedly dead, but still very much alive and relevant. Policy Studies Journal, 33(4), 559–582.
Salon, D., Murphy, S., & Sciara, G. C. (2014). Local climate action: Motives, enabling factors and barriers. Carbon Management, 5(1), 67–79.
Smith, T. F., Preston, B. L., Brooke, C., Measham, T. G., & Gorddard, R. (2009). Igniting change in local government: Lessons learned from a bushfire vulnerability assessment. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 14(3), 251–283.
Taylor, D. A., Kuwornu, J. K., Anim-Somuah, H., & Sasaki, N. (2017). Application of livelihood vulnerability index in assessing smallholder maize farming households’ vulnerability to climate change in Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, 38(2), 97–186.
The Government of Ghana [GoG] (2015). Third National Communication to the UNFCCC. Retrieved from http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/ghanc3.pdf, on Oct 20 2017.
Vaismoradi, M., Turunen, H., & Bondas, T. (2013). Content analysis and thematic analysis: Implications for conducting a qualitative descriptive study. Nursing & health Sciences, 15(3), 398–405.
Van Bueren, E. M., Klijn, E. H., & Koppenjan, J. F. (2003). Dealing with wicked problems in networks: Analyzing an environmental debate from a network perspective. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory: J-PART, 13, 193–212.
van den Berg, M., & Coenen, F. (2012). Integrating climate change adaptation into Dutch local policies and the role of contextual factors. Local Environment, 17(4), 441–460.
Vogel, B., & Henstra, D. (2015). Studying local climate adaptation: A heuristic research framework for comparative policy analysis. Global Environmental Change, 31, 110–120.
Walker, B. J., Adger, W. N., & Russel, D. (2015). Institutional barriers to climate change adaptation in decentralised governance structures: Transport planning in England. Urban Studies, 52(12), 2250–2266.
Walsh, K. J., McBride, J. L., Klotzbach, P. J., Balachandran, S., Camargo, S. J., Holland, G., et al. (2016). Tropical cyclones and climate change. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 7(1), 65–89.
Washington, R., Kay, G., Harrison, M., Conway, D., Black, E., Challinor, A., Grimes, D., Jones, R., Morse, A., & Todd, M. (2006). African Climate Change: Taking the Shorter Route. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 87(10), 1355–1366.
Wolf, J., Adger, W. N., Lorenzoni, I., Abrahamson, V., & Raine, R. (2010). Social capital, individual responses to heat waves and climate change adaptation: An empirical study of two UK cities. Global Environmental Change, 20(1), 44–52.
Wrigley-Asante, C., Owusu, K., Egyir, I. S., & Owiyo, T. M. (2017). Gender dimensions of climate change adaptation practices: the experiences of smallholder crop farmers in the transition zone of Ghana. African Geographical Review, 36, 1–14.
Würtenberger, L., Bunzeck, I. G., & van Tilburg, X. (2011). Initiatives related to climate change in Ghana. Energy research Centre of the Netherlands ECN, Petten (Netherlands); Climate and Development Knowledge Network CDKN, London (United Kingdom). Retrived from http://www.ecn.nl/docs/library/report/2011/e11010.pdf, on Oct 20 2017.
Yaro, J. A., Teye, J., & Bawakyillenuo, S. (2015). Local institutions and adaptive capacity to climate change/variability in the northern savannah of Ghana. Climate and Development, 7(3), 235–245.
Yeboah-Assiamah, E. (2016). Power to the people! How far has the power gone to the people? A qualitative assessment of decentralization practice in Ghana. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 51(6), 683–699.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Musah-Surugu, I.J., Ahenkan, A. & Bawole, J.N. Too weak to lead: motivation, agenda setting and constraints of local government to implement decentralized climate change adaptation policy in Ghana. Environ Dev Sustain 21, 587–607 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-017-0049-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-017-0049-z