Institutional, legal, and economic instruments in Ghana's environmental policy

The environmental situation in Ghana is characterized by desertification, l and degradation, deforestation, soil erosion, and inadequate water supply i n the northern regions of the country. The population as a whole is growing at a rate of 3% per annum, with even greater urban growth rates, due to ru ral out-migration. Large parts of the coastal zone in the south are rapidly developing to become one large suburbanized area. Water quality is particu larly threatened in the urban and industrialized areas, which are mainly lo cated in the southern part of the country. The coastal lagoons and coastal waters are moderately to heavily polluted. Erosion extends along the whole Ghanaian coast with excesses, for example, in the Keta area, where during t he last century over 90% of the original buildings have been washed away by the sea. The obvious environmental consequences of the mining sector are i llustrative of the environmental threats caused by a fast growing industry and industrializing agriculture,in a country where environmental policy is only in its formative years. Desertification, food insecurity and coastal e rosion all contribute to an increasing number of environmental refugees. Environmental policy in Ghana is a post-Rio phenomenon. Environmental laws, a Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology. an advisory National Co mmittee for the Implementation of Agenda 21, and a fully mandated environme ntal administration have been established. This administration advocates a progressive attitude towards environmental legislation and points out the s pecific utility of economic and legal instruments in environmental manageme nt in this relatively fast developing country. The choice of instruments for environmental management is increasingly infl uenced by the specific stale of African environmental and technological cap acity and by a call for the recognition of the role of traditional customs in nature conservation. This African perspective on environmental managemen t is further intensified by an unmet need for regional, transboundary coope ration in the West African subcontinent. This specific West African context calls for an elaboration of an effective capacity-building program environ mental management in the area.