Understanding the Complexities of Human Well-Being in the Context of Ecosystem Services within Coastal Ghana

Eric Duku (), Precious Agbeko Dzorgbe Mattah, Donatus Bapentire Angnuureng and Joshua Adotey
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Eric Duku: Centre for Coastal Management—Africa Centre of Excellence in Coastal Resilience, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast PMB TF0494, Ghana
Precious Agbeko Dzorgbe Mattah: Centre for Coastal Management—Africa Centre of Excellence in Coastal Resilience, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast PMB TF0494, Ghana
Donatus Bapentire Angnuureng: Centre for Coastal Management—Africa Centre of Excellence in Coastal Resilience, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast PMB TF0494, Ghana
Joshua Adotey: Centre for Coastal Management—Africa Centre of Excellence in Coastal Resilience, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast PMB TF0494, Ghana

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-20

Abstract: The understanding of the complexities of human well-being (HWB) within the ecosystem service (ES) context is fundamental to the development of management plans to sustain the flow of ecosystem services (ESs) for HWB. However, research on HWB in the context of ecosystem services is still underrepresented on Africa’s coast. Primary data were collected from 794 household heads in six communities within Ghana’s eastern coastal zone. A sequential logistics regression model was used to assess the effect of the interactions between ESs, socio-economic conditions, and contextual factors on HWB. Respondents’ well-being varied across the study communities, with high well-being reported by 63% of respondents from Anloga and low well-being by 77% in Kedzi. A strong association was found between HWB and relevant characteristics of respondents including marital status, years lived in a community, subjective social position (SSP), main livelihood source, income class, access to a reliable credit facility, and being a member of a local community group. Gender was not a significant predictor of HWB levels. For the effect of ESs on HWB, we found that respondents who had high contentment with provisioning and cultural ESs were more likely to have high well-being as opposed to respondents who had low contentment. Respondents who had low to moderate contentment with regulatory ESs were more likely to have high well-being, but the contextual factors condensed the significance of this relationship. Findings suggest the implementation of deliberate actions to maintain or restore vital ecosystem functions and services for sustainable well-being in coastal communities.

Keywords: human well-being; ecosystem services; community resilience; subjective social position; Keta Lagoon Complex Ramsar site (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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