Challenges and Potential Solutions for Sustainable Urban-Rural Linkages in a Ghanaian Context

Sustainability

卷:12

Christopher Gordon¹  Adelina Mensah¹  Kazuhiko Takeuchi²  Mustafa Moinuddin³  Xin Zhou³  Julia Lopes⁴  AlbertNovas Somanje⁴  Geetha Mohan⁴  Osamu Saito⁴ 

[1] Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana (UG), Accra LG 209, Ghana;

[2] Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI), The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 133-8654, Japan;

[3] Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Kanagawa 240-0115, Japan;

[4] United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Tokyo 150-8925, Japan;

关键词: urban-rural linkages;    potential solutions;    sustainable development;    sub-saharan africa;    ghana;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su12020507

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Urban-rural linkages are an integral part of fostering development in both urban and rural communities. However, the focus on development tends to have an urban bias toward Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with an increase in urbanization. Ghana is one of the fastest urbanizing countries in SSA. This paper sought to identify the challenges of urban-rural linkages, their corresponding solutions, and contributions to Agenda 2030 that are context-specific to Ghana through a stepwise solution scanning technique. In step 1, the study applied a scoping process to identify the urban-rural challenges. In step 2, a solution for the identified urban-rural challenges in step 1 was co-designed. In step 3, each identified solution was assessed based on its potential to contribute to all three pillars of sustainability by ranking and prioritization. In step 4, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) interlinkages of the top five prioritized potential solutions were analyzed. The identified challenges were (1) inequality and gender gaps, (2) poor and lack of basic and economic infrastructures, (3) the limited effectiveness of decentralization, and (4) food and nutrition security dynamics. The prioritized potential solutions were gender inclusiveness, investment in infrastructures, sustainable agricultural systems, effective decentralization, and financial inclusion. This study recommends maximizing the synergies and minimizing the trade-offs between the SDGs of the potential solutions identified.

【 授权许可】

Unknown