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The sixth of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has access to improved sanitation as one of its targets. Sanitation is important not only for environmental quality and public health but also for the outstanding universal value (OUV) of heritage monument sites and tourism promotion. The study examined the causes of open defecation (OD) in the neighbourhood of a World Heritage (WH) site in Ghana and the implications of the practice for sustainable tourism and heritage management.

The study used the qualitative approach. Data were gathered from purposively targeted respondents (an Environmental Health Officer, Heritage Managers, a Tourism Expert, Hoteliers, Zoomlion Staff, Open Defecators, Community Opinion Leaders and Ordinary Community Residents) and analysed using the thematic approach.

It became evident that the causes of OD were: the lack of toilet facilities in many houses in the community, filthy and foul-smelling public latrines, poor attitude and heritage culture, mental and income poverty, inadequate sensitisation and a poor law enforcement regime. OD threatened the sustainability of heritage tourism and its associated livelihoods, as well as public health. In addition, it impaired the authenticity and integrity of the heritage monument, culminating in a detraction from the OUV of the heritage property.

In collaboration with the local, national and international stakeholders, the managers of the heritage monument should design and implement a comprehensive environmentally friendly plan. The plan should consider demarcating the boundaries of the heritage asset, monitoring the protected area, enforcing sanitation laws and mounting intensive sanitation education campaigns. It should also consider providing a decent toilet in the vicinity of the monument for the transit population, facilitate the provision of a toilet in every house through the community-led total sanitation approach, installing digital cameras at vantage points in the buffer zone of the castle to capture open defecators and punishing offenders severely to deter others from engaging in the ignoble practice of OD.

The authors argue that sanitation at heritage sites in developing countries merits further discussion within the WH network to promote sustainable heritage conservation management and tourism.

Globally, rapid urbanisation characterised by increasing demand for housing and infrastructure needs has resulted in sand mining. In Ghana, sand mining can create or destroy the livelihoods of people in urban and rural areas. This paper examines the interaction between sand mining and land-based livelihood security in Awutu Senya District (ASD) and Awutu Senya East Municipality (ASEM).

Based on pragmatism philosophy, the study used a mixed methods approach to collect quantitative data and qualitative data from 431 household heads, ten core staff of the Assemblies, five traditional leaders, two tipper truck drivers' associations and ten farmer groups. Statistical Product and Service Solutions, version 21 and NVivo 12 facilitated quantitative data analysis and qualitative data analysis, respectively.

The study revealed that sand mining had different consequences on land-based livelihood security. Some block makers and truck drivers acknowledged positive effects of sand mining on their livelihoods while the majority of the household respondents and other key informants claimed that sand mining had negative effects on their livelihoods.

This paper focuses on two selected local government areas in Ghana. Therefore, the results may be generalised on the country with caution because local government areas have different characteristics. Further research is needed to contact the customers of sand in Accra.

This study provides new insight into the connections between sand mining and people's livelihood security in two local government areas. It also introduces a novel idea of collaboration among stakeholders to address negative effects associated with unsustainable sand mining.