The #HowtoLDN Series highlights the efforts of intersectoral country teams to implement their roadmaps towards Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). Supported by the GEO-LDN Flagship since the Global Dialogue Forum 2023 in South Africa, this week we spotlight the work of Team Ghana CAP (Community Action Plans).
Harnessing Community Action for LDN
Team Ghana focuses on strengthening community action through integrated planning. The Community Action Planning (CAP) approach empowers local communities to improve land management practices, enhance resource use, and strengthen livelihoods to build resilience.
Background
In Ghana, there is a strong correlation between land degradation and poverty, particularly in rural landscapes. While community-based approaches are crucial for addressing these challenges, efforts to effectively mobilize local action in an integrated way remain limited.
The Ghana CAP team seeks to change this by supporting communities to address their specific challenges through best practices in land use and adaptive measures in response to climate change. Their strategy aims to build adaptive capacity, foster collective urgency for planning, and strengthen resilience.
Strategies and Methods
The approach leverages community action planning guidelines developed under the Resilience Against Climate Change (EU-REACH) project and its partners. This involves combining:
- Non-traditional data (Earth observations, geospatial analysis)
- Traditional data (community discussions, household questionnaires)
Through these participatory methods, the team mobilizes community efforts to address land degradation while also generating evidence to inform local governments on sustainable land use planning and development strategies.
#HowtoLDN Use Case from Team Ghana CAP
Working Group for Decision Support is still assisting Team Ghana by developing an LDN Decision Support System (DSS) for three different zones in the country. The DSS, built on Google Earth Engine (GEE), will guide the selection of six pilot communities for community action planning.
The process begins with assessing land degradation across the three zones. Once communities are selected, community maps will be generated and used during participatory engagement. These activities will evaluate correlations between observed land degradation and its impacts on agriculture, health, hazards and disasters, and overall well-being. Ultimately, the maps will serve as a sensitization tool to promote action.
How the GEO-LDN Flagship supported Team Ghana CAP
With technical support from the GEO-LDN Flagship, the EU-REACH and PAIReD (GIZ Ghana) projects, and a grant from the Sector Network for Rural Development (SNRD), Team Ghana has been able to:
- Conduct fieldwork in three zones
- Facilitate community-level planning processes for LDN
- Gather comprehensive datasets on land degradation
- Develop strategies for land restoration and sustainable management
Through these efforts, the team is laying the groundwork for a methodology on community action planning for LDN, which could form the basis for national discussions to integrate LDN into broader planning processes.
For more information, please see the country’s poster and the presentation from UNCCD COP 16 in Riyadh, held from 2 to 13 December 2024. You can also check their presentation that was presented during our #10 GEO-LDN Online Seminar on 30th June 2025
For more information on how GEO-LDN supports countries on their path to Land Degradation Neutrality, contact us at info@geo-ldn.org
In Partnership with:
- WA West District Assembly
- National Development Planning Commission (NDPC)
- WA Municipal Assembly
- Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Ghana
