For the Environment: An Assessment of Recent Military Intervention in Informal Gold Mining Communities in Ghana |
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| Institution: | 1. Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom;2. Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom;1. Department of Geography and Resource Development’, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana;2. Department of Geography, Loughborough University, UK;1. Department of Agricultural Management and Policy, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Sciences, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana;2. Department of Environment and Sustainability Sciences, Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources and Environment, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana;3. Department of Economics, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria;1. Department of Earth Science, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG58, Legon, Accra, Ghana;2. Department of Political Studies, Queen''s University, 68 University Avenue, Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6;1. Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, United Kingdom;2. School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, United Kingdom;3. Department of Finance, Central Business School, Central University College, P.O. Box 2305, Tema, Ghana;1. Department of Geography, Rutgers University, Lucy Stone Hall, 54 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8045, United States;2. Department of Human Ecology, Rutgers University, 55 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8520, United States;3. Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Mines and Technology, P.O. Box 237, Tarkwa, Ghana;1. Department of Planning and Sustainability, University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana;2. Department of Planning, Faculty of Built Environment, College of Art and Built Environment, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana |
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| Abstract: | This article reflects critically on the impacts of the recent ban on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) – low-tech, labour-intensive mineral extraction and processing – in Ghana. Government officials claimed that a ban was necessary because the country’s ASM activities, most of which are found in the informal economy, pose a serious threat to local waterbodies and that security forces were needed for its enforcement. It is argued here, however, that projecting the ban and associated military intervention as actions taken specifically to protect the environment has helped the government escape scrutiny over its choice of strategy to combat illegal mining. Perhaps more importantly, it has masked what may be the real reasons behind these moves: 1) to help the government regain control of the purchasing side of an ASM sector that is now heavily populated and influenced by foreigners; and 2) to put it in an improved position to demarcate parcels of land to the multinational mineral exploration and mining companies that supply it with significant quantities of revenue in the form of taxes, royalties and permit fees. |
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| Keywords: | Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) Ghana Operation Vanguard Informality |
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