Towards a Living Landscape: using modelling and scenarios in the Atewa-Densu landscape in Ghana

Case: The Atewa-Densu landscape in Ghana

The Atewa Range, lying about 90 km north of the capital Accra, is a strip of unique upland forest surrounded by a mixture of farms, small scale gold mines and villages. The NGO A Rocha Ghana has been working in the Atewa Range since 2012, with the support of IUCN Netherlands. They are convening relevant stakeholders for the purpose of protecting the forest and the water that flows from it, while providing for sustainable livelihood opportunities for inhabitants of the landscape. This has led to the development of the Atewa Living Landscape Vision that aims for an integrated landscape that respects the region’s history, its environment and its people, and one that brings development to the region in a sustainable way. This work was catalysed by an explosive growth in gold mining around Atewa and the risk of large-scale bauxite mining activities that could potentially destroy the core zones of the remaining high-value biodiversity of Atewa and its role as a water source for currently 5.5 million people.

Read this case study to understand how applying our spatial scenario modeling tool helped sharpen the plan that accompanies the Living Landscape Vision, and make the case for alternatives to destructive mining.