Livelihood coping strategies among displaced small scale miners in Ghana

Socio-demographic factors affecting artisanal and small-scale mining (galamsey) operations in Ghana

“…From the results, out of the 237 respondents that engaged in galamsey, it was noted that those with basic education dominate (57.8%) while respondents with a first degree do not engage in galamsey operations at all. This suggests that galamsey activities are largely executed by people with lower levels of educational attainment (Mabe et al, 2021). Moreover, the chi-square test of no association of participation in galamsey with respect to a respondent's educational qualification was statistically significant (p-value ¼ 0.000 < 0.05).…”

“…The socio-demographic characteristics of the study respondents were first presented (see Tables 3 and 4). Of the sample population of 342 household heads (HH), the majority (55.6%) of them were below the age (Kala, 2015;Mabe et al, 2021). However, the major worry with regard to this youthful population in these localities is that the youth are easily attracted to illegal mining activities at the expense of agriculture (Antwi-Boateng and Akudugu, 2020), with implications on food security.…”

“…The aforementioned results like taking care of large household members and children in school may inform the need for the household heads to explore other opportunities at their reach in their communities towards meeting the demands of the family, and the galamsey sector may not be exempted. Studies have highlighted most rural dwellers engage in ASM to supplement their household income (Mapuva and Dube, 2016;Guenther, 2018;Osumanu, 2020;Hausermann et al, 2020;Mabe et al, 2021).…”

“…However, evaluating ASM's contributions to national economic growth and development has been mixed because the adverse effects mostly overshadow the positive implications (Hirons, 2020). Nevertheless, the ASM sector remains a safe haven for employment to the youth in these geographies (Tuokuu et al, 2020;Mabe et al, 2021). For instance, as of 1999, the International Labour Organisation (ILO, 1999) reported 13 million active miners and 80-100 million indirect dependents of the ASM sector worldwide.…”

“…Other scholars have looked at the livelihood implications of the galamsey ban on the local communities (Tuokuu et al, 2020;Zolnikov, 2020). Additionally, a section of the scholars settled on the livelihood coping strategies adopted by local communities to the galamsey ban (Mabe et al, 2021). The harsh treatments meted out to local miners caught at mining sites by the military (i.e., shooting and killing, arresting, persecution and prosecution including the burning of excavators, the implements used in mining) have been reported (Hilson, 2017;.…”