Environmental sanitation management and sustainable development: evidence from the catchment area of Benya lagoon in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem municipality, Ghana.

Abstract

Environmental sanitation has become a topical issue in contemporary development discourse due to its implications for livelihood and sustainable development. This study explored the sanitation management practices in the catchment area of Benya Lagoon, Ghana. The objective was to examine the implications of sanitation management for sustainable development in the area. Employing the mixed methods and multi-stakeholder approaches, data were gathered from 479 household interviews, 53 in depth interviews, eight focus group discussions as well as observations and documentary reviews, and analysed using descriptive statistics as well as thematic and content analyses. The study found that, sanitation affected livelihoods and sustainable development through its implications for human, physical, financial and natural capitals; and that income and mental poverty, inadequate and poorly managed sanitation infrastructure, limited education, weak regulation management regime as well as weak collaboration among stakeholders, conspired to render sanitation management ineffective for sustainable development. It concluded that, until the stakeholders seriously committed and collaborated to address these issues through strategic management of infrastructure, education and regulation, improper sanitation practices would continue to constrain sustainable development in the study area, and by extension, Ghana. The onus in this regard, was on the government, as represented at the local level by the municipal assembly, to partner more effectively with the other key stakeholders for the maintenance of acceptable sanitation practices for sustainable development.