ghana climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessment

Upper West Region, 69.8 percent of the population never attends school (GSS, 2005a, 2005b, 2005c). Ofthose that do go to school, less than a quarter progress to secondary school. Investments in education enablepeople to develop skills and knowledge that can help them pursue off-farm livelihoods and work outside ofthe natural resource sectors, making them less vulnerable to climate change impacts. Education can also helpmigrants get better jobs in urban areas, earn more and increase remittances back home.CONCLUSIONGrowing population pressure in Ghana’s coastal and northern savanna regions, high social vulnerability toclimate change in the north, and climate change impacts such as unpredictable rainfall and sea-level rise, havenecessitated that households, communities, and government respond to resulting livelihood vulnerabilitieswith insurance and coping strategies and livelihood adaptations. The best of these adaptations reducevulnerabilities and contribute to long-term sustainable livelihoods. Others serve to provide for the short termbut threaten the system’s long-term health. Development organizations have the opportunity to help bettercoordinate approaches to adaptation and ensure that best practices emerge as solutions.USAID’s Feed the Future program is well positioned to support climate change adaptation strategies thatincrease the livelihood security of households in Ghana’s coastal and northern savanna zones because of itsfocus on enhancing food security. Many of the activities proposed under Feed the Future directly address theopportunities for adaptation described here. It will be important to take a community-based approach indeveloping and implementing specific interventions to support both food security and climate changeadaptation to ensure that they are appropriate to the local context and will be beneficial.GHANA CLIMATE CHANGE VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION ASSESSMENT 159