Illegal mining and governance in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana
Afua Manko Abedi-Lartey
In Ghana, a number of human activities including mining, tree felling and timber extraction, bush fires and charcoal burning, improper use of agrochemicals (weed-killers), over grazing, among other continue to hamper efforts by governments in the efficient management of land and the governance of the environment. The country’s rich biodiversity is therefore threatened by a range of factors that listed above including urbanization and infrastructure development, increasing size of land under agriculture and climate change. In fact, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature assert that some 200 species of animals such as the elephant, giant pangolin and the leopard and some living organisms are classified as threatened. These human activities have been found to have negative effects on the ecosystem, leading to the loss of bio-diversity whilst impacting negatively on food security becausemany people in the country depend directly on natural resources for medicines and food supplements. Some negative impacts of mining on the environment include the increasing cost of treating available freshwater to acceptable standards.
Event: Land Governance in an Interconnected World_Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty_2018
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