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The centre of Ghana development is land that plays a vital role. This article focused mainly on the rapid land degradation and deforestation due to bush fires, poorly managed grazing, farming and agricultural conversion, current forest/woodland governance systems and major policy gaps that were identified. A combination of methods used included: Extensive study of secondary literature/reports/programmes/write-ups (from 1999-2004), key informant interview: a one-on-one interview with Government Officials, 7 responsible for forest management, Forestry, Commission and Traditional Institutions (men-10, women-5), elders-6, and functionaries-4 living in the community, phased assertion. The study recommend Forest Management System needs to be evolved that includes the management and development of sacred groves, shrines, sacred bodies and natures, and totems; associated with indigenous agricultural practices and seeds, indigenous agro-ecological management practices, indigenous tree and vegetation management practices, indigenous livelihood developments and human activity systems which are both enhancing and militating against biodiversity conservation and development encourage and systematically develop traditionally protect areas/plants/animals (TPAs). Attention should be paid to conservation of: 1) sacred groves; 2) burial grounds and spiritual lands; 3) sacred water bodies and fauna; 4) totemic animals; 5) traditional cultural practices; 6) farming systems; 7) traditional crop varieties; 8) home gardens; 9) graze-lands and rest lands; 10) wild fruits supply systems.

Climate variability and ecological changes have consequently altered life and natural livelihood-sustaining systems leading to socio-cultural, economic and environmental challenges and vulnerabilities. The risk factors are very high and the impacts will raise the developmental impediments of safeguarding livelihood security and poverty eradication in Sub-Saharan Africa. Adaptation to climate and ecological variation, though recognized as pressing and necessary, operates in the context of numerous uncertainties and unknowns. Previous studies on climate adaptation tried to identify universal patterns of coping rather than differentiating between agro ecological zones, villages and types of households. This paper uses case studies from two rural communities in the Savanna agro ecological zone of Ghana to explore smallholder farmers' responses to climate and ecological variation effects on their livelihood activities that have emerged since the mid-1980s. Results suggest that smallholder farmers use various coping, on-farm and off-farm adaptation strategies to ameliorate the negative impacts of climate and ecological changes on their livelihood. Coping measures such as selling household assets, migration of the entire households and decreasing food consumption/changing diets can be damaging. On –farm adaptation strategies such as varying planting dates, use of drought tolerant crop varieties, soil conservation strategies are based on farmers indigenous knowledge passed down from generations. To ensure sustainability of local adaptation strategies, there is the need for exchange of knowledge between and among smallholder farmers and formal institutions through the recognition and empowerment of local residents and collective actions.

Land issues have the potential to, and actually do generate a lot of conflicts and controversies in rural communities. In Northern Ghana, certain dilemmas, animated controversies, and conflicts about land rights, the resolution of which sometimes leads relatively innocuous compromise later manifest in several negative ramifications. For women in particular, the above negativities associated with land are even more pronounce and more protracted. This research adopted a case study approach to conduct this survey. The specific techniques used for data collection and analysis include: stratified group discussions, focus group discussions, key informant interview, phased assertion (confrontational dialogue), and critical arena analysis. The major findings include the fact that both men and women stated that land allocation to women is a regular affair now. It is the aspect of outright long-term ownership and user rights that are still very restricted. Since women do not sacrifice to the land her role in land sacrifices will be problematic. Women would prefer to acquire such formalized rights in their husbands’ homes, with the understanding that they could pass rights so acquired to their sons. Because of the intricate nature of land and the complications therein, and for the avoidance of perpetual conflicts, the women opted for increasing user-rights rather than ownership or controls of land. The concept of ownership, in their local language, was very nebulous to the women. Some were quick to state that they never wanted to own land. The study thus recommended that the socio-cultural values and practices in the area were inimical to any reforms to mainstream women in land issues. An extensive education and re-education of communities, linked with exposing them to best practices elsewhere are recommended. An endogenous development approach is recommended for such an education. There is a need to strengthen dialogue between women and men on issues of land. When men appreciate the benefits of making land available to women it facilitates the ease of giving out land. Economic empowerment of women is also recommended as a way of making land more accessible to women. The women contend that when they have money or wealth in the form of livestock, these assets make it easier for them to either rent land or engage in some form of traditional land tenure arrangement to acquire land for farming purposes.

Tesis (Educación Física) Esta investigación se centra en el “saber” y “saber hacer” mínimo que debe manejar el recién egresado de la carrera de educación física. Los principales fundamentos del trabajo investigativo se componen del Marco de la Buena Enseñanza, Ley General de Educación, Ley de Inclusión Escolar, Estándares Pedagógicos y Disciplinarios, Bases Curriculares, y; Planes y Programas para Educación Física y Salud. En la recopilación de información para este estudio se utilizó como fuente principal: entrevistas realizadas a directores de carreras formadoras de profesores de Educación Física, lo que permitió dotar a esta investigación de antecedentes y opiniones de gran relevancia, específicamente, en los cuatro ámbitos fundamentales sobre los que se basa esta investigación: Evaluación, contenidos, didáctica y fundamentos teóricos de la disciplina. En consecuencia, la investigación busca a través de la información recopilada, obtener resultados a ser tratados en los siguientes puntos: • “Saber” o conocimientos que requieren egresados de educación física, en opinión de directores de escuelas formadoras (sujetos) en los cuatro ámbitos. • “Saber hacer” o habilidades que requieren egresados de educación física, en opinión de directores de escuelas formadoras (sujetos) en los cuatro ámbitos. En este sentido, cabe señalar que la determinación del “saber” y “saber hacer” mínimos que debe manejar un recién egresado de Educación Física cada vez cobra mayor relevancia en el mundo académico nacional, esto debido a que son las Instituciones Formadoras de Profesionales de la Educación las que tienen la responsabilidad de poder sacar al mundo profesional a profesores que cuenten con estas herramientas mínimas para su correcto desempeño. Particularmente, del análisis de las entrevistas realizadas a los directores de dichas casas de estudio, es posible mencionar que éstos generalmente coincidieron en sus puntos de vista sobre los temas consultados, destacando principalmente la importancia de la planificación de la clase, flexibilidad y manejo de las evaluaciones, manejo de contenidos y fundamentos teóricos: Respecto al “saber” o conocimientos mínimos que un recién egresado de la carrera de educación física debe tener, los directores manifestaron las siguientes opiniones: - Ámbito Evaluación: destacan que la finalidad de la educación física es el aprendizaje del estudiante, por lo que la evaluación es un proceso dirigido a ese objetivo y no a resultados. - Ámbito Contenidos: coinciden que deben estar orientados a la formación integral del estudiante. - Ámbito Didáctica: los directores coinciden en que el profesor de educación física recién egresado debe tener claridad o conocer las herramientas didácticas y conocer el contexto en que trabaja para poder escoger la didáctica adecuada. - Ámbito Fundamentos: lo primordial para los directores es la finalidad educativa, saber qué y con qué sentido se realiza la clase. Por otra parte, respecto al “saber hacer” o habilidades mínimas que debe mínimos que un recién egresado de la carrera de educación física deben tener, los directores manifestaron las siguientes opiniones: - Ámbito Evaluación: por una parte, destacan que el profesor recién egresado debe saber planificar y ejecutar para poder evaluar, y por la otra, que debe tener competencias tales como manejo de grupo, de generar hábitos, manejo metodológico y didáctico. - Ámbito Contenidos: a este respeto no fue posible identificar coincidencias, sin embargo, señalan que siempre se debe tener en cuenta el contexto de los alumnos. - Ámbito Didáctica: los directores coinciden en que debe ser flexible. - Ámbito Fundamentos: no se identificaron grandes coincidencias. Se debe privilegiar la educación integral y adaptarse, debe saber priorizar, planificar de acuerdo al contexto para que tenga sentido.

Africa is amongst the most susceptible regions to climate change and this situation is intensified by the interaction of ‘multiple stresses’ and the low adaptive capacity of smallholder households. Agricultural production and livelihood security in many African countries are severely weakened by climate change. The paper seeks to contribute to the growing empirical and policy discourse on climate change by examining smallholder households’ views and understanding of climate change. The research combined qualitative methods (FGD’s, historical timelines and interviews) with a quantitative method (survey) and analyzed the data using descriptive and inferential statistics such as percentages, trend analysis and bivariate correlations to investigate the relationships and differences of the variables. The results indicate that smallholder households believe that the rainfall pattern of the Bongo district is characterized by erratic rainfall, reduced rainfall, late onset, short duration and high temperature which have resulted in significant crop failure. The results further show that smallholder households associate climate change to bush burning, deforestation {hegemonic representation} whiles others associate climate change to breaking of taboos and the disrespect for the beliefs, spirits, gods (life forces) {polemic representation}. Over 95% of household believe climate change poses severe negative consequences for their farming activities and livelihoods {emancipated representation}. These perceptions by smallholder households were corroborated by rainfall and temperature records from the Ghana Meteorological Agency in the Bongo district. Livelihood diversification strategies, including off-farm income sources should be robustly pursued and more specific and targeted climate adaptation policies needs to be formulated by policy makers to reduce the vulnerabilities of smallholder households whose livelihoods depend largely on rain-fed agriculture.