The questionnaire is based on 15 interviews with researchers in Ghana on driving forces of land use change in the Upper East Region, conducted in November 2013.

The questionnaire was sent by e-mail to the 15 researchers but only 5 responded.

The questionnaire has closed questions and is characterized by three parts:

1. Current and future direct and indirect drivers of land use/cover change (LUCC) in the Upper East Region

Likert-scale: from 0 = no influence to 5 = very strong influence

2. Positive or negative impact of drivers of LUCC on food security and water security in the Upper East Region (UER)

Likert-scale: from -2 = very negative impact to +2 = very positive impact

3. Trends of land cover type under "business as usual"

Likert-scale: from -2 = significant decrease to +2 = significant increase

The answers are validated by the Delphi-approach which is used to reduce the variance by resending the questionnaire with the anonymous information of responses given by other participants. The participant is asked to reassess his response with regard to the judgement of other participants.

Drivers of LULCC can be roughly categorized as followed (drivers are overlapping and have been resorted later on):

Direct anthropogenic drivers:

• Traditional agricultural intensification: no fallow, without or with small amount of fertilizer, intercropping, slash and burn

• Modern agricultural intensification: no fallow, fertilizer input, occasional use of tractors, mainly monocrops

• Agricultural extensification: extension of arable land

• Conservation agriculture: fallow, mulching and no tillage

• Irrigation with dams and rivers

• Dry-season gardening: small-scale irrigation with wells; bucket irrigation

• Improved crop varieties: hybrids and genetically modified

• Mining activity: sand, gravel and stone extraction; as well as digging for gold and other resources

• Labour availability for farming

• Use of wood: cutting trees for firewood, charcoal or livestock feeding

• Livestock

• Bush fires

• Others: e.g. residential land use

Biophysical drivers:

• Soil type: natural capacity for water and nutrient retention

• Topography: hilltop, slope, valley

• Increasing rainfall variability

• Increasing temperature variability

• Increasing variability in wind intensity

Demographic drivers:

• Population growth in rural area

• Urbanisation: urban population growth including in-migration

• Out-migration: residents out of the UER longer than one season

Cultural drivers:

• Changes in religious pattern: e.g. importance of sacrifices and sacred places

• Change in behavior due to access to TV and radio

• Change in food intake

• Level of education

Economic drivers:

• Rising living standard

• Improved road network

• Access for rural people to local markets

• Financial capital of rural farmers

• Market liberalization

• Foreign agricultural large-scale investments

• Tourism

Political drivers:

• Governmental laws

• National agricultural programmes

• Service by extension officers

• Fertilizer subsidies

• Tax relief on product sale

• Credits by family, bank, government or NGO

• Customary land tenure system; focus on land security

• Science and research

• International funding/ development aid

Following land cover/use types and crop types have been asked for its increase or decrease:

Land use/cover types:

• Cropland: farming area for staple crops and cash crops

• Grassland/grazing land: grass species are dominating with occasional shrubs and trees; can be used as pasture

• Bush savanna: shrubs, single trees, savanna grasses

• Tree plantations: tree cover > 70 %; e.g. fruit trees, fodder trees, timber

• Bare land: natural or degraded land without vegetation; can be sandy areas, iron concretes, rocks

• Water bodies: dams, lakes and rivers

• Urban area: sealed area is dominating; dense network of roads and houses

• Other land cover/use types

Crop types:

• Millet

• Sorghum and/or guinea corn

• Maize

• Soy beans

• Groundnuts

• Bambara beans

• Cowpeas

• Cotton

• Irrigated rice

• Rain-fed rice

• Irrigated vegetables

• Future crops: Sesame

• Other crop types