An application of GIS and coastal geomorphology for large scale assessment of coastal erosion and management: a case study of Ghana
An application of GIS and coastal geomorphology for large scale assessment of coastal erosion and management: a case study of Ghana
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Date
2012-09
Authors
Boateng, Isaac
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Publisher
Springer
Abstract
ct Coastal erosion poses serious threat to life and
properties along Ghana's coast. This is because major in
dustries, urban settlements, recreational facilities, heritage
and conservation sites are located few metres from the coast.
In spite of this threat, management strategies, both past and
present, remain an "ad hoc" and site specific. Limited atten
tion has been given to large scale assessment and investiga
tion to detect the rate of coastal recession and the size of
land lost to the sea to inform integrated management plan
and to formulate sustainable management strategies to deal
with the problem. This paper provides large scale assess
ment of coastal recession in Ghana through field investiga
tion, applied coastal geomorphology and GIS techniques to
selected case study areas. The assessment covered 203 km
out of the 540 km coastline of Ghana. Results of the assess
ment indicate that coastal erosion is very substantial and
wide spread along the coast, but the rate of recession varies
across the entire coastline. Significant amounts of losses of
settlements have been experienced in some localities in the
eastern coast (Keta and Ada) and the central coast (Accra,
Shama and Sekondi-Takoradi). In some areas, coastal defen
ces have been built to reduce the impacts, yet many areas are
still very vulnerable. Interestingly, the paper identified that
the high rates of retreat recorded in many areas have yet to
cause major risks in some local communities because of the
presence of a buffer of largely undeveloped land that has
existed historically between the shoreline and the develop
ments. However, recent increase in coastal tourism in Ghana
has led to "scramble" for purchase of these buffer lands for
development, which increase the risk. Ghana has the oppor
tunity to use education and land use planning to keep the
coastline clear of major developments and avoid the temp
tation of engaging in costly cycle of development-risk
defence experienced in many countries including the UK
and the Netherlands. The paper recommends that Ghana
should adopt the UK SMP, which has progressively moved
away from the traditional re-active and parochial approaches
of providing localised hard-engineered coastal defence work
to solve what was perceived to be a local problem, to a more
pro-active and holistic approach that take full account of
coastal dynamics, interrelationships of coastal systems,
knock-on effects, environment concerns and developments
at the backshore.
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Citation
Boateng, I. (2012). An application of GIS and coastal geomorphology for large scale assessment of coastal erosion and management: a case study of Ghana. Journal of coastal conservation, 16, 383-397.