CUENTO DEL SABIO QUE CREÍA EN SÍ MISMO

The state of the urban environment in Ghana is undeniably unacceptable. On the one hand, chiefs, landowners and local government agencies do not coordinate their efforts in spatial planning, and on the other, urban residents are overwhelmed with their own waste. The result is that waste is disposed of in any available “free” space, mostly wetlands. Urban wetland communities therefore bear the full brunt of filth and floods. Cleanliness may be deemed a virtue. However, this virtue needs to be reinforced and promoted through conscious efforts by all stakeholders. Whilst residents of Kumasi may be consciously interested in maintaining a clean environment, it behoves the responsible stakeholders to provide the much needed public services to enable residents carry out this civic responsibility. Waste disposal in streams and wetland areas could therefore be a thing of the past if the appropriate spatial planning and waste management approaches are implemented.

The consequences of urbanisation in developed and developing countries have been very much described. The KMA does not have to make all the mistakes that have been described or experienced by other cities elsewhere. There is still a window of opportunity for the KMA to avert this doom by harnessing the interest of the current King of Ashanti (Asantehene), Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, in its environmental management agenda. The Asantehene is very much interested in saving waterbodies. Because of the land tenure system and the authority the Asantehene wields in Kumasi, efforts to reverse the dire wetland situation could be made easy. The clearing of waterways through the demolition of houses has been vehemently resisted in most areas. Political interferences into these activities have sometimes made the situation more complicated. However, the involvement of the Asantehene in these activities could provide the much needed impetus that the KMA needs in carrying out their corrective environmental management and Garden City agenda.

The recent experiences of urban Kumasi make restoration to its former Garden City status not only desirable, but necessary. More and more people are experiencing floods and the results of this research show that, total annual rainfall of Kumasi is more from heavy rainfall events than rainy days. If this trend continues, the city has two options to curb the incidence of flash floods: (i) either adopt the engineering approach by increasing and expanding the drainage systems or (ii) improve the conditions of the wetlands to play its natural role of absorbing and

slowing down the storm waters. Whilst none of these options will single-handedly solve the problem, the economics of these options favour the latter. Urban storm drainage systems are expensive to construct and maintain. Improving wetland areas will not only curb the incidence of floods but is also an ecologically sound approach for a city that is growing and increasingly producing more pollutants.

This research has shown that the wetlands of Kumasi are a rich store of plant biodiversity. It is surprising that, a city that is undergoing such a rapid landcover change still has wetland patches that have maintained plant diversity comparable to undisturbed environments. That is, despite the pollution, encroachment and fragmentation of the wetlands, good fragments worthy of protection still exists. Whilst most of the wetlands have relatively high diversity indices, the importance value indices show that they are predominantly vegetated by 1-3 species. There seems to be a form of vegetation specialisation based on the soil and water regime of each wetland. Conservation objectives for these wetlands should therefore be for their ecological services rather than their store of biodiversity. For example carbon sequestration should be the conservation objective for the wetlands at the KNUST Police Station and Atonsu Sawmill; aesthetic values for Golden Tulip Hotel, Bekwai roundabout, Dakwadwom, Atonsu Sawmill; and FRNR Farms; and flood mitigation objectives for those at KNUST Police Station, Kaase Guinness. The diverse ecological potentials of these wetlands should be harnessed for sustainable urban environment of Kumasi. The success of the new Garden City of Kumasi will depend on how this rich diversity is integrated into the spatial planning efforts. Whilst the presence of heat island effect has not yet been determined in Kumasi, the increasing use of air conditioners, vehicles and the reduction in vegetation cover make it plausible. When these urban green spaces and streams are improved, they could mitigate the heat island effect and also provide places for relaxation to escape from the pressures of the city.

Poverty and vulnerability have always been used together in literature on slums and informal settlements. Even though these suburbs generally house the poor of Kumasi and are exposed to the annual floods, they cannot necessarily be described as vulnerable. Most of these residents have accepted the annual flooding as the status quo. Whilst anyone can be vulnerable to non-seasonal flash flood events, the prevalent form of inundation in these suburbs is due to effluent streams from the annual rise in the water table. This type of inundation by its nature and frequency is very much expected. The inhabitants may therefore be frequently exposed to floods but cannot be described as vulnerable because they expect it

and prepare for it. This may explain their reluctance to relocate. Poverty (expressed by their inability to afford the relatively high rental charges at other suburbs) may be the determinant in the initial choice to settle in that location. However, these residents soon tap into other forms of human capital (social, experiential, cultural, spiritual capitals) to reduce their vulnerability to the floods. These forms of capital need time to mature, improve and increase in value. Any efforts by the city authorities to relocate these wetland inhabitants should therefore involve the early identification and removal of factors that provide resilience to floods. These may, however, be deeply rooted in the social fabric and, therefore, difficult to remove by the time the inertia ridden city authorities decide to take action.

This study also shows that human environmental behaviour and choices are very fluid and unpredictable. Different people have different tolerance levels which are related to their individual value judgements. The Ghanaian society is still very much communal. Even in urban settings, people easily build relations in their neighbourhood. These bonds are Ghanaian social values that influence highly the outcomes and decision making processes of these urban residents. The trajectory of the EKC would apply in very individualistic societies where persons, or at most the household, take decisions independent of the influence of their neighbours. Where this independence is lost, the trajectories of flood tolerance or environmental pollution with increasing wealth deviates from what has been proven by Dinda (2004), Stern (2004) and Mills & Waite (2009). What is observed is that, after staying in these communities for a while, income gradually loses its power as a major decision making factor in residential choices.

Kumasi is growing faster than the inhabitants and planning authorities can cope with. Most inhabitants are still dependent on agriculture, natural resources and fresh foodstuff. With increasing urbanisation, these are drawn from increasingly distant environments to satisfy these inhabitants. The distance from which goods are acquired and to which waste can be sent is directly related to the spatial developmental stage of the city. Distances and costs to dispose of wastes are increasing for both the residents and waste management companies. The distance is also a function of energy (or financial resources). The more the availability of energy, the further these wastes could be transported or better processed into less harmful forms. Because of the high costs of managing wastes, streams serve as sources of “free energy” to transport the waste when it rains. Disposal of waste in wetlands and streams may therefore be an adaptation by urban residents to reduce this energy function in their lives.

These are conscious decisions residents take considering the cost of floods and aesthetic values of the environment being lost through such waste disposal methods.

Furthermore, the placing of waste containers in wetlands by the KMA could also be a reinforcing factor to the wrongful use of these wetlands as dump sites. The KMA sees these wetlands as the remaining islands of free public spaces for these purposes in an already unplanned and overdeveloped neighbourhood. In most of these poor suburbs, there is a high default rate of fee payment for collection or disposal of waste. Therefore, domestic waste is secretly deposited in the immediate surroundings of these containers. These are all washed into the surrounding streams choking them and increasing the siltation rates. These shallow rivers therefore easily overflow their banks during the heavy rain events flooding the neighbouring low lying areas. Therefore, whilst the KMA is working in one dimension to reduce the incidence of floods by removing structures along the waterways, they should also to be blamed, in part, for increasing the incidence of floods by siting waste bins in wetland areas.