The Impacts of the Bui Dam Project in Ghana on Residents Waterbase Recreational Pursuits within the Catchment Area

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue VI, June 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Impacts of the Bui Dam Project in Ghana on Residents Waterbase Recreational Pursuits within the Catchment Area

Baffoe Kingsley¹, Alex Boakye Asiedu²

 ^1,2Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana, P.O. BOX LG 59 Legon, Accra, Ghana.

Abstract: – This paper explores how the construction of large dams affects the leisure and recreational (LR) pursuits of residents living in the catchment area. The mixed-method technique was used due to its inherent strengths (Castro et al, 2010; Teye, 2012) in which 200 respondents were sampled using a multistage procedure. The study revealed that before the Bui Dam Project (BDP) the river was the recreational base for both local residents and tourist. Unfortunately, post BDP the residents’ LR activities have been negatively affected. Residents recommended the construction of alternative LR infrastructure to help address the challenges facing them in the area.

Keywords: Water-base, Recreation, Dam, Bui Dam Project.

I. INTRODUCTION

There are varying recreational activities pursued by recreationist throughout the world (Crawford et al., 2002). One of such recreational activities which has attracted a lot of participation is water-base recreational activity (County et al., 2004). According to Gyale (2007), water-base recreation refers to any recreational activity that is pursued in water or in relation to water resources. Similarly, Oram (1999) as cited in Fowler (2012) consider water base recreation as involving leisure activities that is focused on or pursued in marine environments. Marine environment according to Fowler (2012) does not necessarily refer to oceanic enclaves alone but also enclaves of other water resources. Water base recreational activities enjoy several economic and other non- economic benefits which drives the development of nations across the globe (Young, 2010; Ahiawodzi, 2013). Undoubtedly, water base recreational activities are seen as a therapy, because as a natural resource, water has a lot of medicinal and healing qualities that explains why it is still being used by residents of the world for leisure activities (Petraccia et al., 2006). Thus for a recreationist to be able to pursue water base recreation, water is a major requirement (Bixler & Morris, 2000).

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