Wetlands and waterbird population monitoring along the Ghana coast

Wetlands are important ecosystems which provide several ecosystem services for biodiversity and mankind. There are over 100 wetlands of varying sizes along Ghana’s 550 km coast. Five of these coastal wetlands have been designated as wetlands of international importance also known as Ramsar site and these include Keta lagoon complex, Songor lagoon, Sakumo lagoon, Densu delta and Muni-Pomadze Ramsar sites. As part of the recommendations of the Coastal Wetland Management project carried out in the early 1990s, the biological, physical and chemical characteristics of the wetlands need to be monitored on a regular basis in order to assess changes in the ecological integrity of these wetlands. The Centre for African Wetlands have been monitring the populations of all waterbirds within the five coastal Ramsar sites as well as other wetlands of national importance on a monthly basis and has an up-to-date database on waterbirds populations spanning a period of more than three-decades. The other wetlands of national importance include Atiteti, Mangotsonaa, Ahwiam, Ningo salt pans, Laloi lagoon and salt pans, Amisa lagoon, Narkwa lagoon, Elmina salt pans, River Whin mouth and the sandy beach between the Ankobra and Amanzule estuaries (known as the Esiama beach). Occasionally, CAW monitors the chemical conditions within the wetlands by assessing the physico-chemical properties of waters within the study sites.

International Waterbird Census (IWC)

In collaboration with the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission of Ghana, CAW provides technical support for the counting of waterbird species along the Ghana coast and evaluates pressures on wetlands, in the framework of the International Waterbirds Census in the East Atlantic Flyway. This partnership has been in existence for almost four years with funding from Wetland International. The census is done between the second and third week of January every year.

Project Coordinator – Jones Quartey