Decentralized environmental management and popular participation in Coastal Ghana

Abstract

Decentralization has been promoted by the World Bank as an element of ‘good governance’. In Ghana District Assemblies are being given increasing responsibility, including management of the environment, through recently established District Environmental Management Committees. This paper reviews current environmental conditions and management in three coastal districts and assesses the extent of local-level participation. It concludes that DEMCs are falling far short of the role government seems to have envisaged they would play in decentralized environmental management, not least because of funding inadequacies. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.