Participatory Restoration of Keta’s Socio-ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes

Overview

The project site, Keta Lagoon, lies in the far south-east of Ghana near the international border with Togo. The area is known as Keta Lagoon Complex Ramsar Site. The lagoon is an extensive, brackish water-body situated in the east of the Volta River estuary. The area of open water varies with the season, but is estimated to be 30,000ha, stretching for 40 km along the coast and separated from the sea by a narrow ridge with inflows from Todzie, Avu, Aka, Belikpa and the Lower Volta Rivers. However, overdependence of its uses for livelihoods such as fishing and for fuelwood, as well as pollution from plastics waste, climate change-induced sea level rise and coastal erosion have all depleted the Keta townships. These unsustainable practices have modified the ecology of the SEPLS.
The main objective of this project is to demonstrate how to restore and revitalise the Keta Ramsar site and the SEPLS to conserve ecosystem services to benefit the fishing community including families in Keta. Specifically, the project seeks to build multi-stakeholder partnerships, promote cyclic use of resources and build capacity for sustainable livelihood enterprises. The planned activities include an introductory workshop on SEPLS, a capacity building workshop on Locally Managed Fisheries Areas, homestay ecotourism, sustainable vegetable gardens in schools, and environmental sanitation promotion in Keta-Kedzikorpe. Key outputs of this project include enhanced local governance for SEPLS management, clean beaches, ecotourism products, increased family income and better management of SEPLS.