“Illegal” Gold Mining Operations in Ghana: Implication for Climate-Smart Agriculture in Northwestern Ghana

Abstract

Globally, climate-smart agriculture is highly recognized as an approach for sustainable agriculture and food systems. In Africa and other developing countries, climate-smart agriculture is observed to reposition and modify agricultural systems for improved food and nutritional security. Despite the relevance of the approach to sustainable agricultural planning, illegal gold mining in many parts of the society is placing constraints to its implementation and adoption through its contest with agricultural land for space and activities. Illegal gold mining is on the rise due to the lucrativeness of the non-regulated gold rush opportunities with hard consequences on sustainable agriculture and resilience food systems. As a result, this study seeks to investigate illegal gold mining and its environmental implication for climate-smart agriculture in Ghana. The study used a single case study using a mixed-methods approach to research. The study adopted purposive and systematic sampling techniques to select the study communities and respondents, respectively. Questionnaire and interviews were used to gather the primary data from respondents at the household level, as the unit of analysis. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis reveal that known agricultural practices such as terracing, crop rotation, use of domestic waste/manure, and irrigation of crops were affected adversely by activities of illegal mining. The study recommends the need for conscious efforts from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources to sustain the ban on illegal mining with intensified monitoring and supervision while a systematic scheme involving relevant stakeholders is developed and implemented to ban illegal mining in Ghana completely. The Ministry of Food and Agriculture needs to develop an approach to support the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices by smallholder farmers to meet the food demand of their households.

Perspectives on Applications of Geospatial Technology and Landscape Ecology for Conservation Planning in the Global South

“…The proliferation of mining ponds, channels, heaps, and pits across the Global South have also contributed to higher incidences and magnitude of soil erosion and soil loss, as well as coastal flooding in some mining areas close to the coasts (Wantzen & Mol, 2013;Moomen & Dewan, 2017). For example, recent increase in Chinese nationals' involvement in illegal mining in Ghana, commonly referred to as "galamsey", has resulted in large scale indiscriminate forest clearing, loss of wildlife habitats, and water pollution (Boateng et al, 2014;Hess & Aidoo, 2016;Mantey et al, 2017;Yiridomoh, 2021). Recent focus on Lithium powered electronics have resulted in increased interest in the developing the Lithium expansive deposits in lithium in Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia (Barandiarán, 2019).…”