Osman Alhassan

My name is Osman Alhassan and I am a Senior Research Fellow and Research Coordinator of the Section on Societies and Cultures. I currently teach courses on appropriate technologies research methods, water resources and rural development at the undergraduate and graduate levels. My research interests span themes in natural resource management, environmental degradation, disaster risks reduction, and water resource management in Ghana and Africa. For my time at MIASA, I intend to focus on research on herdsmen and farmer conflicts and conflict resolution measures at the local and national levels in the guinea savanna belt of Ghana. There have been, in the last two decades, increased conflicts among land and water resource users. These competing demands for land and water resources have resulted in conflicts and violence which have caused deaths, injuries, destruction of properties, displacement of communities, and threatened peace and security. These security threats to communities and their livelihoods have been widespread in most parts of Ghana and calls to question how the country is going to achieve sustainable development through improved living conditions in its rural areas and nation as a whole. Land, forests and water resources continue to be under immense pressure due to demographic pressures on the one hand, and climate variability on the other. The need for contributing informed inputs for re-orienting policy towards a more sustainable management of resources and conflicts in Ghana prompts this research. Field methods emphasise on primary qualitative methods such as interviews, group discussions and observations among others. I will be open and willing to collaborate with other fellows interested in resource use, resource conflicts, sustainable environmental management, and disaster risks and disaster mitigation such as land and water degradation and resuscitation. I anticipate completing a draft paper on resource conflicts and conflict resolution mechanisms, as well as analyse collected field data for two journal publications by the end of May 2020. I will also participate fully in MIASA’s activities during the fellowship.