Institutional capacity and divergent resilience pathways in coastal Ghana's mangrove social-ecological systems: Evidence from the Western Region and Lower Volta Delta

Mangrove condition reflects interactions among ecological pressures, livelihood dependence, institutional arrangements, and biophysical constraints on regeneration. This study compares seven purposively selected rapid-appraisal sites in Ghana's Greater Amanzule Wetlands in the Western Region and the Lower Volta Delta. Evidence combines May 2025 site appraisals, 14 semi-structured interviews, three group discussions, spatial and secondary ecological information, and historical livelihood context from GLSS7 (2016–2017). Institutional functioning was assessed descriptively through rule recognition and participation, monitoring and responses to violations, and collective action, without assigning unsupported site-level scores. Visible disturbance was lower in the Western sites, with a median score of 2 (range 2–3), than in the Lower Volta sites, where the median was 4. Stakeholder accounts also indicated more consistently recognised rules and participation in the Western system, while implementation was described as less consistent in the Lower Volta. Monitoring responsibilities, frequency, and responses to violations were insufficiently documented in both systems, preventing comparison of monitoring effectiveness. Because governance evidence was primarily regional and sites were purposively selected, these findings represent a descriptive association between two coastal systems, not seven independent institutional observations or a causal institutional effect. Hydrology, hydroperiod, sediment supply, salinity, geomorphology, and the scale of pressure also condition disturbance and regeneration opportunities. Effective responses should therefore combine participatory rule implementation, collective action, transparent monitoring arrangements, livelihood measures, and restoration strategies matched to local biophysical conditions and the geographical scale of dominant stressors.