ghana climate change vulnerability and adaptation assessment

Communities are, rightly or wrongly, anticipating benefits ranging from investments in schools, healthfacilities, and roads (which would make the area more accessible to the rest of the country and enableresidents to access broader commercial markets), increased employment opportunities as the dam isconstructed, anticipated improvements in fisheries and agriculture, and superior accommodation optionsavailable in resettlement villages (Alhassan 2009). This response is undoubtedly linked to the proximity ofthese local communities to Bui National Park (BNP). Communities in the area were “unanimous that theBNP was not beneficial to them because they did not have access to its resources, as it is a strict conservationarea which limits their economic activities. [The Bui Dam] will ‘serve the nation and the communities betterthan the park’” (Alhassan 2009, 155). Despite the many identified environmental and socio-economic issuespresented by the establishment of large dams, the generally positive response of Ghanaians to new andexisting projects suggests that the public still sees a place for hydroelectric power in Ghana’s future, whileemphasizing the need for better education regarding the costs and benefits of hydro projects.GHANA CLIMATE CHANGE VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION ASSESSMENT 171