Empowering communities, protecting ecosystems: Climate resilience of urban socio-ecological systems

Underpinned by the socio-ecological systems (SES) framework, this study identifies and examines SES climate interventions employed by residents and local planning authorities to address climate-induced vulnerabilities in an African city. With a focus on Ahensan, Kumasi, we employed the exploratory sequential mixed methods research approach to gather and analyse data from 152 residents, discussants of two focus group discussions and four key informants. The institutions were first purposively selected based on their important roles in addressing community climate hazards. Residents were purposively and conveniently selected based on their exposed and vulnerability to climate-induced disasters in the community. Flooding was the major climate hazard, with perennial devastating impacts. There was weak combination of both social and ecological systems to address the hazard, where there was much emphasis on the use of social systems. Notable interventions implemented were clean-up exercises, planting trees and grass, together with sensitisation campaigns on the essence of avoiding building on waterways and flood-prone areas. Residents were largely excluded from the design of local SES climate-resilient interventions, but were engaged in their implementation. We argue that effectively and consciously integrating ecosystem-based solutions, and strengthening community engagement in SES-related climate governance and planning actions is important for strengthening resilience of the vulnerable.