District Level Coastal Management

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2. Improved Coastal Governance at the District and Coastal Settlement Scale

2.1 Shama

2.1.1 District Level Coastal Management

The Shama District focal area has been the lead district in spatial planning and development of ICM strategies in addressing critical coastal issues. A District Advisory Committee on Development and Planning has been created with membership from private sector, government and civil society with the mandate to deepen interaction with other stakeholders and to seek common solutions to land use and development issues. During the period, the Shama district Advisory committee and coastal steering group provided advice and orientations on how the spatial development framework process should evolve in order to be relevant to current development issues facing the district. The Committee also held: • working sessions with the Coastal Steering Group • consultative meetings with traditional authorities • community level outreach and public education on land use and spatial planning • workshop on translating science-based information into district scale policies, regulations and administrative procedures In February 2012, the information generated through these stakeholder consultative processes were compiled and combined with existing analysis of district-wide coastal issues. These information and data on the district’s coastal zone have been provided as initial contributions to the ongoing work aimed at preparation of spatial development framework for the Shama district, with funding support from the Jubilee Oil partners. Since November, 2011 the Initiative have supported ongoing training of technicians and planning officers at the district’s town and country planning department on the application of GIS in spatial planning. Priority issues emerging from the consultative meetings have included the need to conserve undeveloped portions of the Anankwari floodplain and the potential relocation of some structures within the floodplains, impacts of flooding, sand winning and poor sanitation. Outreachpublic education programs provided opportunities for communities to examine and validate the findings of earlier participatory mapping exercises. Views gathered from the communities were being incorporated into ICM policies and plans of the Assembly. 27 The Committee advanced engagements with faculty of the Department of Geography and Regional Planning DGRD of the University of Cape Coast to develop tools and procedures for enhancing spatial and land use decision-making. Information and tools critical for the processes included shoreline classification maps, flood risk and warning maps Figure 6 and simulation tools. Figure 6: Faculty member of the University of Cape Coast discussing flood simulation maps with statutory committee members of the Shama District Assembly 28

2.1.2 Anankwari River and Flood Plain