Environmental Impact Of Mining And The Well- Being Of The People
[A Case Study of Akwatia]

1 According to Kaakpema Y, 2004.´´Galamsey´´ is a term used to describe or call illegal mining activities in Ghana.

 During the “prospecting” stage, the entire vegetation is destroyed especially if the mining is carried out in the “forest zones”. This is done when routes are demarcated through the forest in order to gain access to the sample sites to know the availability of minerals on that particular site. The effects depend on the methods used during the stage of “exploitation”. During the “exploitation” stage mining causes deforestation and this does not only affect fauna and flora but also how constantly water will flow from the forest through to the other ecosystems and the cities.

Primarily, deforestation in the forest causes a “rapid and fluid runoff of rainwater” escalating flooding during rainy seasons due to the inability of the soil to hold the water (Ricardo, and Hersilia, F. 2004).

In most mining communities “…the degradation of large tracts of land by the large scale surface mines constitute a major threat to agriculture in the communities and their economic survival” (Awudi, 2002: pg. 7), Akabzaa also observed this trend and made a statement that “…the mining companies are annexing vast lands in their operational areas and depriving communities of their chief source of livelihood” (Akabzaa, 2009 cited in pg. 16 of Opoku-Ware, J 2010).2 A lot of conflict in communities are as a result of mining and this has resulted in so many social vices such as “prostitution, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, gambling, incest, inadequate housing (there is an influx of immigrant in search of job which makes accommodation very expensive and scarce), youth unemployment, family destabilization (Akabzaa and Dramani, 2001, 43: world rainforest movement, 2004:47 and Gualnam, 2008:2). Most of the mining societies in Ghana react to these social vices through demonstration and strike actions. It can therefore be said that the increasing level of conflict between the mining societies and “chiefs” on one side and the “companies” on other side “echoes” the increasing apprehension about the negative impact on the population as a result of the mining activities3. During mining activities there is the destruction of revered sites leading to loss of land for agricultural purposes. There is also a shift in lifestyle due to the emergence of immigrant in that community. A lot of people are also forced to move out to the cities especially the indigenous people.

This is because life in mining communities becomes so expensive and forces the indigenous people to move out from their community. Also, due to the influx of

2Akabzaa and Dramani is the analyst of the impact of mining sector investment in Ghana, a study of the Tarkwa mining region, 2001.

3A chief is a leader or a ruler of a people or community (oxford dictionary, 2005).

different groups of people in such communities there is high level of violence leading to murder, assault, suicide drug and sexual abuse which may lead to loss of lives (Opoku-Ware Jones, 2010).

Air pollution affects the people directly due to the dust generated by mining activities. The health and well-being of the people especially, those living close to where toxic substances are generated is greatly affected. They suffer headache, skin rashes, diarrhea and vomiting, etc. which are signs and symptoms of “mercury poisoning”.

Mining also destroys many water bodies making it very difficult for the local people to get clean potable water for drinking, cooking, washing, bathing etc. In mining areas, there is always the tendency for prostitution, sexual abuse and drug addiction which also affects the health status of the people living in the respective communities indirectly. Due to the sexual abuse in those mining communities, there is increased incidence of HIV/AIDs and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs). There is also evidence of increase infant mortality rate in mining communities. People from both the western world and the third world are grappling with the negative social, environmental and health impact of mining. Those in the south are often delimited by poor environmental, health and safety standards. However mining companies operating in these communities are not putting in any strong or effective measures to comprehensively curtail these problems. “In general, the negative impact of exploration and mining activities accepted as a “necessary evil’’ in the provision of the world’s increasing eagerness for minerals and metals. While health, safety and environmental concerns are increasingly on international agenda, many view those offences against Indigenous (and other) people as a secondary concern to the economic bottom line” (Whiteman Wail and Mamen Katy, 2002).

What I personally observed during my two year stay in Akwaatia was that, environmental impact of mining and the well-being of the people in Akwatia has been a hydra-headed issue that is difficult to circumvent and there is therefore the need for an urgent change to avoid more negative impact of mining on the environment.

Mining activities have caused a lot of people to migrate into the Akwatia town, a situation which has led to a lot of environmental, social and health problems in the community. The GCD has been closed down for some time now and the workers have been laid off without compensations being paid to them. Following their diminutive knowledge in mining, they have engaged themselves in illegal mining

activities “galamsey” in the communities which use to house the activities of the mining company. Now, those top men who were managing the GCD are now selling the companies concessions to the small scale miners and some individuals without monitoring their mining activities. Meanwhile, the government and the opinion leaders in Akwatiaare doing little about the situation for fear of losing votes from the electorate. Every government of the day wants to win the parliamentary seat in Akwatia. As a matter of fact, the government and opinion leaders have refused to put in sturdy measures to control these illegal mining activities in the communities for fear of losing the seat in the upcoming 2012 general elections. This has become an albatross hanging on the necks of the entire Akwatia populace since the mining activities has caused a whole lot of environmental problems.