Local institutions and adaptive capacity to climate change/variability in the northern savannah of Ghana

Ghana faces several challenges from climate change/variability. Local institutions provide the framework within which idiosyncratic capacities of local people can be exercised in their adaptation to climate change. This paper examines the importance of formal and informal institutions for building adaptive capacity. Both formal and informal institutions play different but complementary roles in enabling or preventing the ability to cope, benefit and adapt to climate change. Responses to climate change in northern Ghana are dependent on the nature of institutions that grant people access to resources; define their exposure to climate threats; and dictate the rate of recovery from debilitating disasters. The effectiveness of institutions is constrained by their limited spatial and temporal reach, limited financial and human resources, and sometimes the faulty strategy designs and implementation procedures. Traditional institutions may malfunction when modern interpretations of tradition are in the interests of custodians of tradition rather than the ordinary poor. We emphasize the need for synergy between institutions that support adaptive capacities of the poor, and request corrective measures to institutions that lead to maladaptation.