We apply Q methodology, a model with a qualitative background, albeit with rigorous quantitative analysis, to map community perspectives (concerns, attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and perceptions) towards the acquisition of communal land for a biofuel project in northern Ghana. We extracted four community perspectives, in the order of importance as follows: (1) pro-biofuel project, but pessimistic (2) against the biofuel project (pro-environmental) (3) strong against and (4) optimistic. Taken together, the perspectives suggest the local people believe the biofuel project has no potential to improve their livelihoods, meanwhile, there is a consensus that the project destroyed trees of economic importance and provided poor working conditions for the local employees. We recommend (1) the establishment of enforceable economic and social contracts between the employees, local land users and the biofuel investors (2) direct monetary compensation for the affected communal land users (3) investigation of allegations of late or partial-payment of salaries of the biofuel project’s employees (4) future considerations for acquiring communal land should include broad community consultations and incorporate the local land users’ interests, concerns, and viewpoints and (5) the local bioenergy policy of the government of Ghana must include checks on communal land sale decisions, which directly or indirectly impact the welfare of the people.

中文翻译：

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加纳北部生物燃料投资征地的社区观点图

我们应用 Q 方法，这是一种具有定性背景的模型，尽管进行了严格的定量分析，以绘制社区对加纳北部生物燃料项目收购公共土地的看法（担忧、态度、信念、意见和看法）。我们提取了四种社区观点，按重要性顺序排列如下：（1）支持生物燃料项目，但持悲观态度（2）反对生物燃料项目（有利于环境）（3）强烈反对和（4）乐观。综合来看，这些观点表明，当地民众认为生物燃料项目没有改善他们生计的潜力，同时，人们一致认为该项目破坏了具有经济重要性的树木，并为当地员工提供了恶劣的工作条件。我们建议 (1) 在雇员、当地土地使用者和生物燃料投资者之间建立可执行的经济和社会合同 (2) 对受影响的公共土地使用者进行直接货币补偿 (3) 对迟付或部分支付工资的指控进行调查(4) 未来获取公共土地的考虑因素应包括广泛的社区协商，并纳入当地土地使用者的利益、关切和观点，以及 (5) 加纳政府的当地生物能源政策必须包括对公共土地的检查土地出售决策直接或间接影响人民的福祉。