Land tenure (in) security in the context of urban flood risk in Ghana

Urban Farm DB summary

Focusing on Ghana, where floods driven by urbanization and climate change are destabilizing urban systems in which land tenure is integral, this study drew on political ecology and land-tenure-security frameworks to examine how floods affect the land tenure security of flood victims. Based on semi-structured interviews with flood victims and planning officials, it found that flood-induced rezoning and new planning schemes, tenant insecurity, relocation, loss of land documents, and threats to urban agriculture all affect flood victims' land tenure security; possessing land documents was found to be important for tenure security but not an absolute condition for victims' perceived security. Post-flood land-use planning for flood risk management was found to have dual potential — it can enhance tenure security and bolster community resilience, but when carried out in an exclusionary way that overlooks the urban poor, it can instead perpetuate inequality and tenure insecurity. The study recommends tenure-responsive land-use planning that embeds contextual, procedural, and distributive equity principles into planning responses to urban floods.