As one of the 23 research projects, the Women Rise initiative seeks to support gender-transformative research on the intersection of women’s health and COVID-19. The initiative aims to fill critical knowledge gaps about factors affecting women’s health during and after COVID-19. Through this, the Women Rise initiative will generate evidence that can inform post- COVID-19 recovery. The Ghana case study examines female bushmeat traders’ socio-economic and health vulnerabilities during and after COVID-19. Even though bushmeat trading has long been a major livelihood activity for women, there is a dearth of knowledge on the health hazards of the trade, including women’s exposure to zoonotic diseases.
As a consortium implemented by 26 institutions, URBANE is addressing this challenge of sustainable agriculture for food nutrition security, applying a One Health approach for tackling issues related to the application & intensification of peri-urban agriculture, as well as providing the necessary framework for its sustainable & safe application in different contexts. To achieve this, the project will be built around the principles of agroecology. URBANE is building on the extensive experience in agroecology of its partners whilst exploiting friendly tools & methods for measuring the progress & impact of the agroecological transition of farming.
Between 2019 and 2021, the Centre for Biodiversity Conservation Research (CBCR) formerly Centre for African Wetlands (CAW), University of Ghana, worked with the Ghanaian Wildlife Division and the IUCN SSC Species Monitoring Specialist Group to develop the first systematic biodiversity monitoring system for the Shai Hills Reserve. The main objective of this project was to enhance the conservation of forest and estuarine ecosystems in Ghana by improving capacity for evidence based PA management and encourage the uptake of systems within and beyond Ghana. Implementing agencies for the project were CBCR and the IUCN SSC Species Monitoring Specialist Group.
Governments, businesses and civil society require biodiversity data to facilitate informed decision making on environmental management and conservation. However, biodiversity data are fragmented, challenging to collect or access, difficult to use, and rarely available to decision makers in appropriate formats. Challenges include lack of capacity and the absence of appropriate tools for identifying indicators and for collecting, analysing and interpreting data. Causal factors include taxonomic and geographic data biases, differences in spatial scales, and governance issues such as willingness to share information, especially in risk-averse governments and businesses.
Centre for Biodiversity Conservation Research (CBCR) is currently in partnership agreement with The Calgary Zoo Foundation (Canada) to support the Wechiau Community Hippo sanctuary (starting November 2019- December 2024). The sanctuary is a CREMA consisting of 20 communities working together to conserve Hippos and their habitat along the Black Volta. The collaboration seeks to facilitate capacity building, development and conservation efforts in the sanctuary to ensure sustained success of community conservation of hippos in the sanctuary.
Food security is inextricably linked with poverty. Thus, poor people are at a greater risk of food insecurity. The World Bank Organization describes poverty in this way “Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time’. From the definition of poverty, it can be agreed that it is a complex societal issue that requires everyone’s attention.
To assess the current status of Ghana’s coastal Ramsar sites, nearly 30 decades after their designation, in order to determine their ecological health and continued qualification under the Ramsar criteria for designated sites. Key activities of the project included: Satellite imageries on the land use and land cover changes for all 5 Ramsar sites over a three-decade period obtained, field visits to collect data on water quality, macro-invertebrate community, fish and fisheries assessment, waterbird species and population.
