Ghana ecological risks: A space law and science education approach to the management frameworks

Nartey, Emmanuel K.

Abstract

This article discusses what Ghana needs for the development of legal and scientific education programmes to manage framework of biodiversity and the ecosystem. The first part of the article examines literature produced on this topic, which offers many clues about the challenges and opportunities facing Ghana, as well as the lessons that can be learned from both other space nations and actors in this field. When looking at perceptions, the second part explores material taken from ethically approved interviews which were conducted with experts in this field, whilst the third section provides an analysis of data taken from a survey in which respondents were asked targeted questions about Ghana’s space and science education programmes, before summarising the key findings. The findings help to better understand the effect of biodiversity and the ecosystem. Finally, it is recommended that future work is required in the areas of: preserving, sustaining and maintaining biodiversity and the ecosystems; management frameworks for invasive species and biosecurity; management frameworks for environmental degradation and climate change; a management framework that focuses on the fair and equitable access to and sharing of the benefits of biodiversity resources with all communities in Ghana; and assessing and including biodiversity and ecosystem in the development process of space law and science education.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 13, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Apr 28, 2023
• Publication Date: Oct 31, 2023
• Deposit Date: May 3, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 27, 2023
• Journal: Biodiversity and Conservation
• Print ISSN: 0960-3115
• Electronic ISSN: 1572-9710
• Publisher: Springer (part of Springer Nature)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 32
• Pages: 3809–3824
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-023-02609-8
• Keywords: Nature and Landscape, Conservation; Ecology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Risk management, Natural resources poverty, Ghana
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10734815
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-023-02609-8
• Additional Information: All OU research involving the collection of data or biological samples from human participants requires assessment by the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) (please refer to the ‘What needs HREC review’ guidance for confirmation of data collection activities that will not require an ethics review by HREC, including internal service review/evaluation and audit activities). It is essential that no potential participants are approached until you have received a formal response from HREC. Survey: Dr Nartey and Dr Davies have set up JISC Online Survey accounts. Dr Davies will download the raw data and de-identify it. The raw data will be held on her Open University-controlled computer in a password-protected document. She will permanently delete the survey responses from the JISC Online Survey tool no later than 31st December 2021. The de-identified responses will be securely stored in password-protected files on computers managed by the Open University. They will only be shared with the contract researcher and members of the project team at the Open University. Anonymised data will be stored until 31st August 2022, then transferred to the OU data repository. Interviews: The only people who will have access to copies of the audio recordings of the interviews will be the contract researcher, the transcriber and the project team. All copies of the recordings will be securely stored in password-protected files on computers managed by the Open University. Once the transcript has been made, and no later than 31st August 2021, all copies of the recordings will be permanently destroyed. The de-identified transcripts will be securely stored in a password-protected file on computers managed by the Open University. The transcripts will only be shared with the contract researcher and members of the project team at the Open University. Signed consent forms will be stored by Dr Nartey in password-protected files on a computer managed by the Open University (separately from the recordings and transcripts) until 31st August 2022, then permanently destroyed. The project has been registered with FBL and added to the Risk Register – asset number 34.