Small changes for big impacts : lessons for landscapes and livelihoods from the Wassa Amenfi West Landscape, Ghana

This paper describes Livelihoods and Landscapes Strategy interventions in the Wassa Amenfi West Landscape in the western region of Ghana. The landscape extends over an area of about 120,000 ha. It is a mixed landscape with a variety of agricultural uses; the most important is cocoa farming. At the start of the LLS intervention, parts of the landscape, particularly forested areas were quite degraded, while levels of poverty among the communities that rely on natural resource exploitation were quite high. This situation was further complicated by poorly-defined and publicized land tenure arrangements, which provided disincentives for the local population to undertake action to protect and restore trees, especially cocoa bushes.