Humboldt-Univ., Diss.--Berlin, 2004.

No description available.

Thèsis--Paris. / Includes bibliographical references.

Th.--Méd.--Reims, 1981. N°: 8.

Univ., Diss.--Bonn, 2004.

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 2013 / Deforestation is a growing environmental concern in tropical areas of the world where it is believed that the increase in human population and associated land use practices are the key drivers of this land cover change transition. This research tests these hypotheses in the Ho Municipality of Ghana and aims to predict future land cover change by assessing remote sensing images and considering the complex interrelationships and synergies of multiple driving forces. The study specifically examines how multiple driving forces of land cover change transition have contributed to the accelerating pace of deforestation in the last 25 years based on observed trends in land use and remotely sensed land cover change data. The study looks at the future prospects for Ghana’s forests. The field study was carried out in four settlements of the Ho Municipality namely Wumenu, Agbokofe, Abutia Kloe and Takla. The data collection was done using structured questionnaires administered to 376 households to investigate their opinions regarding the driving forces of deforestation in the area. The analysis of questionnaire data involved the use of descriptive statistics and factor analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) software. Satellite images comprising, Landsat MSS 1975, Landsat TM 1991 and Landsat ETM+ 2001 were classified using the maximum likelihood algorithm supervised classification to determine the extent and nature of vegetation cover change and to assess the potential of using a Markov model to predict the future state of forest cover. The research concludes that the municipality lost forest cover from 1975 to 2001 based on satellite and questionnaire data analysis which suggests that the following are the key underlying drivers of deforestation: demographic pressure, poverty, institutional factors, policies, technology and attitudes. Proximate drivers of deforestation are agricultural expansion, illegal logging and wood energy exploitation. The Markov models showed that in the next 25 years various probabilities of change are possible, such as no change in forest cover, forest cover loss and some probabilities of increase in forest cover. These predictions illustrate the need to study the complex driving forces of change to interpret models that are solely based on past land use change transition. Based on the results of the household surveys, current drivers are unlikely to change. Land use planners should thus be aware that deforestation in Ghana is most likely going to continue. On the basis of these findings the following recommendations have been made. There is a need to intensify tree planting activities in the municipality to increase forest cover. Planting of fast maturing trees for woodlots will reduce pressure on the forest for wood energy. Public education on the advantages of family planning should be undertaken by the Municipal Assembly and NGOs working in the area to reduce population pressure on forests. Poverty reduction strategies should focus on alternative livelihood opportunities to divert attention from forest goods while also increasing the protection of remaining forests. Lastly, community participative approaches to forest management could mitigate both underlying and proximate causes of deforestation.

Th. doct. État--Géographie--Paris 1, 1983.

Zugl.: Berlin, Humboldt-Univ., Diss., 2004

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006. / Steven Danyluk, Committee Chair ; Thomas Kurfess, Committee Member ; Peter Hesketh, Committee Member ; Jiri Janata, Committee Member ; Ajeet Rohatgi, Committee Member.

Regional planning, as an approach to development planning, in the newly independent nations of the world, is the main subject of this study. The purpose of the study is to demonstrate the hypothesis that to achieve a balanced social, economic and physical development the scale of planning must be regional. Since the region is the link between the national and local community, it provides a suitable frame of reference for the balanced integration of both national and local projects. The Volta Basin in the Republic of Ghana in West Africa, is taken as an illustrative case study. The case study focuses attention on the methods used in designing the Volta Basin Regional Plan. The Plan is meant to demonstrate how regional planning can help towards balanced development by giving due consideration simultaneously to all the factors involved in the development process. The approach taken in the study was, first, to discuss the problem in a general way by analyzing the main features of development planning as currently practised in a number of the newly independent nations. The conclusions drawn from this discussion are that: 1) the major problem of most of the new nations is that of a single-resource economy inherited from their former colonial rulers; 2) the approach to development planning as currently practised in these countries takes the form of National Development Plan and tends to concentrate solely on the economic aspects of development and, to some extent, the social aspects, and ignores the physical aspects of development; 3) while development planning is increasingly becoming the function of Central Governments, the tendency is to be concerned with planning at the national level with no regard for development at the regional and local levels; 4) in those countries where some effort is made in terms of regional planning for development, the approach that is adopted is in the form of either multi-purpose river basin development or the strictly economic regional development. As a result of these shortcomings of current development planning in the newly independent nations, it is further concluded that the failure to give due consideration to all the factors involved in the development process, gives rise to imbalanced development in these countries. The imbalanced development takes the form of excessive concentration of population in a few urban centers which are usually piled up with poor untrained labour from the rural areas. The urban centers are notorious for all forms of social disorganization: crime, overcrowding, unemployment, and other social problems. The unbalanced development also takes the form of unplanned distribution of industry and rural services, and poor location of transportation routes, resulting in expensive remedial measures. The defects of current development planning in the new nations seem to be a result of the conception of the nature of development, namely that development is essentially an economic problem and once the economic factor is considered, the other factors involved will take care of themselves. It seems also that the economic conception of the nature of development is a result of the influence and advice of the specialists interested in the problems of development of these countries. A new conception of development that takes into account the social, economic, cultural, psychological and physical components of the entire society, leads to the view that planning for development must be regional. This is because regional planning considers simultaneously all the factors involved in the development process. The study discusses development planning in Ghana in order to outline the main problems of development in Ghana and to provide the background for the consideration of the regional planning needs of the country. As in the case of the other newly independent nations, it is con eluded from the discussion that Ghana inherited a single-resource economy; its approach to development planning is restricted to planning at the national level with no regard for the implications of development at the regional and local levels; and that planning for development is regarded solely as an economic problem. As a result of these facts, it is further concluded that Ghana fails to achieve a balanced development—throughout the country. This leads to an analysis of the Volta Basin Regional Plan to demonstrate how regional planning can help towards the achievement of balanced development by giving due consideration to all factors involved in the development process. Based on the simultaneous consideration of the social, economic and physical factors, it is possible to make proposals that reflect the needs of Ghana in terms of the distribution of population and industry; the location of the main transportation routes; the distribution of rural services and the location of large non-agricultural uses. The following proposals are made to introduce the planning process of survey, analysis, plan, implementation and revaluation, into the regions of Ghana: 1) expanded National Planning Commission; 2) expanded Regional Planning Agencies, and 3) regional plans for the eight Administrative regions of Ghana. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate