Afia Agyapomaa Ofosu
Ghana has just taken a bold step toward tackling the unequal impacts of climate change—and it begins with a map.
At a launch in Accra, a new tool was unveiled that does more than show climate exposure. It reveals the lives hidden behind statistics—women farmers struggling with shifting rains, girls fetching water before school, and informal energy users scraping by as fuel prices rise. The Gender and Climate Change Vulnerability Hotspot Maps, developed by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) with support from the Delegation of the European Union to Ghana and AGNES, now place these lived realities in clear view.
Closing the Gap
Until now, most climate adaptation plans in Ghana relied on broad assessments that overlooked gender dynamics. This map changes that. It identifies specific districts where women face the greatest risks across agriculture, water, and energy—and where their ability to respond is most constrained.
“This is about unequal vulnerability,” explained Charity Osei-Amponsah, Deputy Country Representative at IWMI. “We may all face the same climate exposure, but not with the same resources, resilience, or opportunities to cope. And studies keep showing us: women are hit harder.”
The launch was marked by a powerful message from Afua Ansre, Senior Gender Specialist at UN Women, who emphasized the significance of the tool. “For the first time,” she said, “policy makers, planners, development partners, and local offices can vividly discern where climate risks and gender disparities are most acute—and where action is most urgently needed.”
She described the maps as “a breakthrough,” noting their ability to fill long-standing data gaps. “These tools will provide us with sex-disaggregated data at the district level and meticulously map the intersection of climate exposure, sectorial sensitivity, and adaptive capacity.”
How Map Works
The maps cover three core sectors—agriculture, water, and energy—and are built around three indicators: exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity.
Exposure measures how districts experience hazards like droughts, floods, heatwaves, or erratic rainfall. Sensitivity captures how dependent livelihoods are on affected systems—for example, rain-fed farming or hydropower. Adaptive capacity looks at what communities have to respond—access to credit, education, irrigation, information, healthcare, or alternative livelihoods.
Each district is assigned a score for each indicator. These are combined to create a hotspot map, where darker colors show higher vulnerability, particularly for women. The maps are interactive and web-based, letting users zoom into districts, isolate specific variables, or see where urgent interventions are needed.
Sector by sector
In the agriculture map, Karaga in the Northern Region stands out as one of the most vulnerable areas. It experiences both high exposure to floods and droughts and low adaptive capacity among women farmers. In places like Assin North in the Central Region, women are dealing with delayed rains and reduced yields. “Climate change is altering our growing seasons,” said Osei-Amponsah. “And women—who make up 70% of the agricultural workforce—are feeling the impact.”
The water sector map highlights areas like Adentan Municipality in Accra, where water scarcity forces girls to walk long distances before school. “It’s no longer just a rural problem,” said Osei-Amponsah. “In many places, girls are still late for class because they’re fetching water.”
In the energy sector, the map reveals hotspots in the Central Region, where dry spells reduce hydropower output and traditional biomass use becomes unsustainable. Women running small agro-processing businesses are hardest hit due to unreliable energy.
Grounded in Reality
To ensure the maps reflect real-world conditions, IWMI and AGNES conducted field visits to six districts flagged as critical hotspots. Through focus groups and interviews, they found that the lived experiences aligned closely with what the maps predicted.
In Assin North, for instance, drought was the dominant issue, whereas Karaga grappled with frequent flooding. In the Central Region’s Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam and Assin South, delays in rainfall disrupted planting seasons. Female-headed households lacked the labor and inputs to recover quickly.
Radio remains the most trusted source of weather updates. But as Osei-Amponsah pointed out, “Not everyone owns a phone with internet access—especially women. That gap in information access further limits their ability to adapt.”
These field insights confirmed that climate vulnerability is not just about location—it’s about layered inequalities, from energy and water access to gender roles and digital divides.
Guide for Action
The maps are already shaping Ghana’s national response. From the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) to local government programs, this tool is helping identify where to build resilience—and how to do it equitably.
“This isn’t just about mapping risk,” said Osei-Amponsah. “It’s about directing resources more effectively. It ensures we don’t leave out districts where women are truly struggling or waste efforts where they aren’t needed.”
There’s also curiosity about outlier districts—places surrounded by high-risk zones but showing lower vulnerability themselves. Researchers plan deeper dives to understand what makes them more resilient—and whether those practices can be scaled.
Afia Agyapomaa Ofosu is a West Africa-based science journalist covering the intersection of climate change and gender. E-mail: [email protected]
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Emmanuel Ameyaw
