Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Environmental degradation and historical tourism: the Dixcove coastline as a case study |
Author: | Biveridge, Fritz |
Year: | 2011 |
Periodical: | Journal of environment and culture (ISSN 1597-2755) |
Volume: | 8 |
Issue: | 2 |
Pages: | 12-26 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Ghana |
Subjects: | fortifications tourism environmental degradation pollution |
Abstract: | Most tourists visit Ghana because of its historical and cultural attractions located along the coastline. Fort Metal Cross is located at Dixcove, approximately 35 km west of Takoradi, the western regional capital. This paper examines how some activities of Dixcove's population have negatively impacted on its coastline, the archaeology of Fort Metal Cross and historical tourism in the area. The original vegetation at Dixcove has been decimated because of rapid urbanization, tree felling for fuel, and shifting cultivation. In addition to this, the coastline is heavily polluted by rampant defecation on the beaches, dumping of solid waste into the sea, and fish processing at the seaside. There is also chemical pollution, attributed to illegal mining activities. The lease of Fort Metal Cross to a foreign investor who is converting the facility into a tourists/leisure complex has led to the destruction of surface and sub-surface archaeological data, some of which pre-date 1692, and to environmental modifications that negatively effect some endemic mollusks species. The author makes recommendations to redress the problem of environmental degradation and pollution, and to enhance historical tourism at Dixcove. Bibliogr. [ASC Leiden abstract] |