CLIMATE CHANGE AND VARIABILITY AND WATER INSECURITY IN THE SUDAN SAVANNAH ZONE OF GHANA: THE CASE OF GARU-TEMPANE

Abstract

Climate change and variability has been a major cause of water insecurity in drylands of Africa. This study seeks to understand the dynamics and lived experience of climate-induced water (in) security in four agro-pastoral rural savannah communities in north- eastern Ghana, using mixed methods. The study shows that rainfall and temperature were the two main climatic elements that significantly influenced water security. The study observes a 20C rise in temperature 1983-2013. The shift coincides with the severe drought years. Temperature is thus critical in determining water insecurity though a mediating factor is runoff. Statistically observed meteorological changes translate into crop failures thus undermining food and income securities. Livelihoods are almost exclusively rain-dependent except in Worikambo and Denugu where small numbers of households are engaged in irrigation. Rainfall variability is thus a major constraint to agricultural and household water use. Households with the means of transport to collect water were more water secure than those who had to walk and carry water in small vessels. It also emerged that access to irrigated land was a function of one’s position in the society. Powerful individuals and institutional coalitions often determined access albeit there may exist an open and universal usufruct rights to irrigated lands by the dams. The study shows that vulnerability of a household is contingent on two factors: location and endowments. Household responses of water insecurity are enveloped in the institutions and fluid resources available to them. Wealth enhances water security in several ways. Wealthier households tend to own a means of transport such as donkeys or bicycles, making water collection easier in times of drought. It also enables them to benefit from hiring and thus empowering them to accumulate more resource to invest in irrigation and storage capacity. The key adaptation strategies used by household to deal with water insecurity resulting from climate and variability in the study area are predominantly ex ante. These coping strategies include irrigation, planting drought-resistant crops, delaying planting and using early-maturing varieties. Depending on remittances or migrating are the most important ex post options that household adopted. Water management is critically important to the success of food production in the future. This calls for robust investment in resilient water storage systems and use of underground water.