Access to Early Warning for Climate Change-Related Hazards in Informal Settlements of Accra, Ghana

Adams, I; Ghosh, S; Runeson, G

Access to Early Warning for Climate Change-Related Hazards in Informal Settlements of Accra, Ghana

Adams, I

Ghosh, S

Runeson, G

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Publisher:: MDPI AG
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Climate, 2022, 10, (5), pp. 62
Issue Date:: 2022-05-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Adams, I https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1633-1491
dc.contributor.author	Ghosh, S https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6488-9329
dc.contributor.author	Runeson, G
dc.date.accessioned	2022-12-14T04:53:57Z
dc.date.available	2022-12-14T04:53:57Z
dc.date.issued	2022-05-01
dc.identifier.citation	Climate, 2022, 10, (5), pp. 62
dc.identifier.issn	2225-1154
dc.identifier.issn	2225-1154
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/164409
dc.description.abstract	Climate change-related hazards will aggravate and impact differently on urban societies. Although early warning systems will be important for reducing the hazard risks in cities, the nature of early warning systems that are available to residents of informal settlements remains less under-stood. This paper aimed to assess the early warning systems through which informal dwellers re-duce their hazard risks in an African city. Using Accra as the case, data were collected from 582 households using a structured questionnaire along with 25 institutional key informant interviews and 14 focus discussions with state and settlement actors in this study. Findings of the paper show that a mix of formal and informal early warning systems are utilized by residents of informal settle-ments, but the majority of them perceived state disaster management institutions as not performing optimally in their resident settlements. The nature of land ownership in the informal settlements influenced their political exclusion and state institutions’ decisions not to locate weather monitoring equipment in their settlements. Respondents without the security of land tenure perceived state disaster management institutions as not performing optimally, which negatively affects their capac-ity to respond to climate change-related hazards. The paper thus recommends the incorporation of informal early warning systems into city-wide hazard early warning systems through participatory planning in Accra and similar contexts. Future scholars may extend this discourse by examining the effect of the use of informal early warning systems on the uptake of formal hazard early warning sources in informal settlements.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	MDPI AG
dc.relation.ispartof	Climate
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.3390/cli10050062
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.title	Access to Early Warning for Climate Change-Related Hazards in Informal Settlements of Accra, Ghana
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	10
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Built Environment
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.date.updated	2022-12-14T04:53:50Z
pubs.issue	5
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	10
utslib.citation.issue	5

Abstract:

Climate change-related hazards will aggravate and impact differently on urban societies. Although early warning systems will be important for reducing the hazard risks in cities, the nature of early warning systems that are available to residents of informal settlements remains less under-stood. This paper aimed to assess the early warning systems through which informal dwellers re-duce their hazard risks in an African city. Using Accra as the case, data were collected from 582 households using a structured questionnaire along with 25 institutional key informant interviews and 14 focus discussions with state and settlement actors in this study. Findings of the paper show that a mix of formal and informal early warning systems are utilized by residents of informal settle-ments, but the majority of them perceived state disaster management institutions as not performing optimally in their resident settlements. The nature of land ownership in the informal settlements influenced their political exclusion and state institutions’ decisions not to locate weather monitoring equipment in their settlements. Respondents without the security of land tenure perceived state disaster management institutions as not performing optimally, which negatively affects their capac-ity to respond to climate change-related hazards. The paper thus recommends the incorporation of informal early warning systems into city-wide hazard early warning systems through participatory planning in Accra and similar contexts. Future scholars may extend this discourse by examining the effect of the use of informal early warning systems on the uptake of formal hazard early warning sources in informal settlements.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/164409