Assessment of Community Fire Management around Tain II Forest Reserve

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2012-06-15
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Until 1983 uncontrolled wildfires were relatively uncommon especially in the forest zones of Ghana. The question here is that can this change be attributed to the ineffectiveness of fire management at the community level? This study therefore compared the effectiveness of the indigenous fire management systems before 1983 and conventional fire management systems introduced after 1983 fires in fringe communities around the Tain II forest reserve. The study also investigated effectiveness of stakeholder participation and gender strategies in fire management around the Tain II forest reserve. Furthermore, the study identified challenges in fire management around the Tain II forest reserve. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) techniques were used to collect data from the five communities. A total sample of 438 respondents comprising household heads and fire volunteer squads were interviewed. The data were analyzed using index of participation, descriptive statistics and Chi Square. The study results revealed that 85% of the respondents agreed that indigenous fire management systems were effective in curbing wildfires compared to 40% respondents agreed that conventional fire management systems are effective in curbing wildfire. However, 64% of the respondents agreed that indigenous fire management were more or less effective than the conventional fire management. The index of participation regarding stakeholders involvement in fire management planning, implementation and monitoring were 0.59; 0.60; and 0.56 respectively. Furthermore, 52% of the respondents are of the view that fire management before 1983 was a duty mainly for men while 73% of the respondents stated that currently (after 1983) both men and women are involved in fire management. The index of participation regarding women participation in fire management was 0.5; 0.5; and 0.5 respectively for planning, implementation and monitoring. Also the index of participation for both men and women participation in fire management was 0.5. Respondents were of the opinion that they can no longer practice indigenous early burning as a measure to suppress and control fire. A total of 62% respondents agreed that culprits are not punished when arrested for setting wildfires. The research results bare that fire fighting equipments are not available and even where these fire fighting equipments are available they are not enough to be distributed among fire volunteer squads. Also there is lack of insurance scheme for fire volunteers in the study area. The study concludes that wildfire management will succeed or fail according to the degree of involvement of local communities and the support given to stakeholders including fire volunteer squads.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Materials Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in (Environmental Resources Management) Materials Engineering College of Engineering,2012
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