Accumulation by dispossession: The timber ‘salvage’ project on Ghana’s Volta Lake
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Date
2022
Authors
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Publisher
The Extractive Industries and Society
Abstract
In this paper, we analyse how processes of accumulation by dispossession take place and are exacerbated on
Ghana’s Volta Lake, the largest artificial lake in the world. Drawing on the case of an underwater timber ‘salvage’
project on the lake, we argue that contrary to dominant discourses in policy circles that the project would boost
the local economy, enhance safer lake transport, and help to mitigate climate change, the project led to the
commodification of the lake thereby negatively affecting fishers’ livelihoods. Following David Harvey, we argue
that the underwater timber ‘salvage’ project on the Volta Lake is just another vehicle of ‘accumulation by
dispossession’. The study shows that the state and extractive company accumulate profit at the expense of fishers
whose livelihoods have been curtailed following restrictions in access to the lake and landowners who are
challenging ownership of the timber being extracted from the lake. Global connections are made, and the inequalities and injustice enacted through the execution of the project are amplified.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Accumulation by dispossession, Resource commodification, Timber, Livelihoods, Ghana