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G. A. Manful and Y. Opoku-Ankomah
create higher earnings, employment and demand for the value chain of outputs from
other sectors. This transition will lead to a reduction in the share of agriculture to
national economies and the increase in the share of manufacturing and services,
which has the potential to increase employment and incomes and reduce poverty
(IMF 2018).
Across the basin countries, people are living longer and have greater livelihood
opportunities than 20 years ago, but they still lag behind most countries in the world
in human development measures, including education, health and access to drinking
water and other basic infrastructure services. These persistent social challenges have
hampered the efforts of these countries to accelerate growth and reduce poverty,
as envisaged in the national Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSs) of each country.
According to World Bank revised estimates of global poverty from 1981 to 2015
based on 2011 Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) released in September 2018, the
proportion of the population living on less than US$1.90/day (SDG 1.1) in Ghana,
Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo and Benin are 12.0%, 28.2%, 43.7%, 49.7%,
49.2% and 49.6%, respectively (IMF 2018). Another indicator of poverty is the global
Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), an international measure of acute poverty
that goes beyond income poverty and takes into account multiple deprivations at the
household level, including health, education and standard of living. As expected,
computed MPI figures may vary significantly from SDG 1.1 values. MPI values,
taking into account broader parameters of deprivation, are 9.6%, 24.5%, 24.5%,
38.1%, 56.7% and 64.8% for Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Mali, and Burkina
Faso, respectively (IMF 2018). Note that the MPI assesses poverty at the individual
level, and also permits comparisons both across countries and within countries by
ethnic group and urban/rural location. National life expectancy figures in the basin
countries are 63 years in Ghana, 61.2 years in Benin, 60.8 years in Burkina Faso,
60.5 years in Togo, 58.5 years in Mali and 54.1 years in Cote d’Ivoire.
7 Climate Change, Water, Health and Sanitation
All six riparian countries within the basin have witnessed some improvement in
access to sanitation over the past few decades. Notwithstanding, about 30% of the
populations of Mali and Ivory Coast, and only 15% of the populations of Benin,
Togo and Ghana, had access to improved sanitation facilities as of 2015. Significant
progress has been made by all the riparian countries to provide their citizens with
improved water sources. As of 2015, Ghana, Mali and Ivory Coast had provided about
78%, 74% and 73% of their populations with improved water sources, respectively,
with Burkina Faso providing up to 54% of the population with improved water
sources, the lowest in the river basin (see Table 1) (UNECA 2015). In the Upper
East and Upper West regions of Ghana, the water supply used for drinking and other
domestic purposes, serving approximately 80% of rural and urban populations, comes
from groundwater sources (Johnston and McCartney 2010).
G. A. Manful and Y. Opoku-Ankomah
create higher earnings, employment and demand for the value chain of outputs from
other sectors. This transition will lead to a reduction in the share of agriculture to
national economies and the increase in the share of manufacturing and services,
which has the potential to increase employment and incomes and reduce poverty
(IMF 2018).
Across the basin countries, people are living longer and have greater livelihood
opportunities than 20 years ago, but they still lag behind most countries in the world
in human development measures, including education, health and access to drinking
water and other basic infrastructure services. These persistent social challenges have
hampered the efforts of these countries to accelerate growth and reduce poverty,
as envisaged in the national Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSs) of each country.
According to World Bank revised estimates of global poverty from 1981 to 2015
based on 2011 Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) released in September 2018, the
proportion of the population living on less than US$1.90/day (SDG 1.1) in Ghana,
Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo and Benin are 12.0%, 28.2%, 43.7%, 49.7%,
49.2% and 49.6%, respectively (IMF 2018). Another indicator of poverty is the global
Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), an international measure of acute poverty
that goes beyond income poverty and takes into account multiple deprivations at the
household level, including health, education and standard of living. As expected,
computed MPI figures may vary significantly from SDG 1.1 values. MPI values,
taking into account broader parameters of deprivation, are 9.6%, 24.5%, 24.5%,
38.1%, 56.7% and 64.8% for Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Mali, and Burkina
Faso, respectively (IMF 2018). Note that the MPI assesses poverty at the individual
level, and also permits comparisons both across countries and within countries by
ethnic group and urban/rural location. National life expectancy figures in the basin
countries are 63 years in Ghana, 61.2 years in Benin, 60.8 years in Burkina Faso,
60.5 years in Togo, 58.5 years in Mali and 54.1 years in Cote d’Ivoire.
7 Climate Change, Water, Health and Sanitation
All six riparian countries within the basin have witnessed some improvement in
access to sanitation over the past few decades. Notwithstanding, about 30% of the
populations of Mali and Ivory Coast, and only 15% of the populations of Benin,
Togo and Ghana, had access to improved sanitation facilities as of 2015. Significant
progress has been made by all the riparian countries to provide their citizens with
improved water sources. As of 2015, Ghana, Mali and Ivory Coast had provided about
78%, 74% and 73% of their populations with improved water sources, respectively,
with Burkina Faso providing up to 54% of the population with improved water
sources, the lowest in the river basin (see Table 1) (UNECA 2015). In the Upper
East and Upper West regions of Ghana, the water supply used for drinking and other
domestic purposes, serving approximately 80% of rural and urban populations, comes
from groundwater sources (Johnston and McCartney 2010).