“We have done nothing wrong”: Youth miners’ perceptions of the environmental consequences of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in Ghana

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dc.contributor.authorOsei, L.
dc.contributor.authorArku, G.
dc.contributor.authorLuginaah, I.
dc.date.accessioned2024-06-04T11:24:17Z
dc.date.available2024-06-04T11:24:17Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.descriptionResearch Articleen_US
dc.description.abstractArtisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) has gained prominence across sub-Saharan Africa for generating employment and ameliorating hardships for rural populations, especially the youth. However, the associated destructive environmental impacts raise questions about its suitability as employment avenue for youth when considered within the mining-sustainability discourse. This article contributes to the discussions on ASM and its effect on the environment by investigating how youth artisanal and small-scale miners perceive the environmental implications of their own operations in the Upper East Region (UER) of Ghana. The study adopted a qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with forty-five (45) ‘youth’ miners and three (3) purposely sampled government officials. Overall, the findings suggest that ASM operators do not consider themselves perpetrators of environmental destruction. More importantly, most youth ASM operators seem to lack considerable knowledge on the long-term harm their work may be posing to the environment. Those who acknowledged that activities resulted in environmental degradation argued that their financial needs for survival supersedes any immediate or long-term environmental cost. Given the low level of education among miners about the environmental implications of their activities, the findings call for an urgent need for proper education among ASM miners. Furthermore, in light of the fact that government’s policy of criminalizing ASM seems to constantly fail; there needs to be a shift from criminalizing ASM operators towards collaborative engagements in their quest to protect Ghana’s fragile environmenten_US
dc.identifier.otherhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2022.101179
dc.identifier.urihttp://ugspace.ug.edu.gh:8080/handle/123456789/42089
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherThe Extractive Industries and Societyen_US
dc.subjectArtisanalen_US
dc.subjectSmall-scale miningen_US
dc.subjectGhanaen_US
dc.title“We have done nothing wrong”: Youth miners’ perceptions of the environmental consequences of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in Ghanaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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