When two elephants fight…! : conflict in environmental protection the case of the Kakum National Park in Ghana

Abstract

The thesis, “When Two Elephant Fight…!: Conflict in Environmental Conservation; the case of the Kakum National Park in Ghana”, is an analysis of the sources of conflicts between managers of the Kakum national park and local people. The study posits that there are different sources of conflict between officials, seeking to protect the environment and local people who inhabit protected areas. In relation to Kakum, the study identifies three main areas of conflicts; Perception, management and cost and benefit sharing. The study reveals that, these three areas are potential sources of conflicts and the levels of variations of these factors determine the intensity of the conflict. Within the framework of the current discourse on environmental security, it is argued in this study that conflicts like the one in Kakum, has gross implications for the environment and hence constitutes an environmental insecurity. In all of these, the study notes that if steps are not taken to manage the conflict, it would compromise on the sustainable development objective of the country which by extrapolation has implications at the global level. The study also reveals that a reversal of the current situation would involve three important steps; a change in the orientation of both policymakers and local people; participation of local people and; a fair distribution of the costs and benefits from conservation. Within the current conservation paradigm of pursuing conservation with development, the study suggests that conservation policies should not be mere political slogans that become mere rhetoric. Such policies are meaningless unless they are given expression at the grass root level. These policies must have impact on the local people whose lives depend of their environment. Until these and other like policies are effected to the spirit and latter, notions such as environmental security and sustainable development will be but empty words. Nonetheless, as argued in this study, local people also need education whiles legislation relating to conservation need to be reviewed.