Anankwari River and Flood Plain

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2.1.2 Anankwari River and Flood Plain

The Coastal Steering Group CSG held series of outreach and public education meetings in the months of November and December targeted at the Chiefs and community folks within the 3 communities abutting the Anankwari floodplain – Lower Inchaban, Upper Inchaban and Aboadze. These outreach meetings provided opportunity for local stakeholders to examine and validate the results of earlier participatory mapping exercises and for the CSG to address local misunderstandings regarding the causes of flooding in these communities. Key among the issues that emerged from these consultative meetings was the need to conserve the undeveloped portions of the Anankwari floodplain Box 3. As part of providing capacity building support to the district government to address coastal issues including vulnerability of people and property to flood hazard, a workshop was organized in December 2011 at the University of Cape Coast that brought together scientists from the Department of Geography and Regional Planning of UCC and selected members of the district Statutory Planning Committee. This workshop generated awareness and improved knowledge of district planners on the relevance of existing science-based information and tools for land use and spatial planning in the Shama district. This information is now being used by the district planning officers and is contributing to improving the quality of the development permitting decision making processes through for instance, incorporation of ecological considerations. The workshop also generated understanding among district planners on the need for a zoning bye-law to regulate land development and enhance response to flood emergency on the Anankwari floodplain. They also indicated the need to develop collaborative program with the Ghana Meteorological Authority relative to the development of flood early warning systems for communities abutting the Anankwari floodplain and other flood prone areas in the district. 29 Figure 7: A community member expressing her views at a forum in Shama In February 2012, the Hen Mpoano team honored an invitation from the District Chief Executive of Shama to share information on the potential impacts of flooding on a proposed petrochemical storage facility to be sited on the Anankwari floodplain. This current development has heightened interest of the district assembly in the formulation of bye-laws to regulate development on the Anankwari floodplain. In support of the formulation of the bye-law, the Initiative commissioned a study in March 2012 that is assessing the suitability of the floodplain for different intensities of uses and the implications for flooding adjacent communities due to modification of the landscape. This assessment will provide the base information and data for the bye-law that will be developed with district officials over the next two quarters. 30

2.1.3 Shama Shorefront Management