scholarly journals Internationalisation of Artisanal and Small Scale Mining in Ghana: Opportunities and Challenges

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-27
Author(s):  
G. Agyei

The last few years have witnessed internationalisation of small scale mining in Ghana. The entry of migrant artisanal miners has brought losers and winners in the subsector, creating myriad of socio-political problems. However, official attempts to curb it have exacerbated the systemic problem of mineral governance. This paper analyses the emerging challenges and opportunities posed by the entrance of migrant miners into the country with insights into assumptions on resources and conflicts. It takes a closer look at the causes, effects and dynamics of confrontation and collaboration between migrant artisanal and small scale miners and their counterparts in the host nation. It argues that the current governance system of small scale mining based on national control over exploitation is anachronic and not well adapted to competitive, sustainable and fair management of mineral resources. In addition, it proposes a sustainable partnership to harness complimentary skills in order to avoid deepening the resources conflicts which have plagued the mining districts.  Keywords: Internationalisation, Artisanal, Small Scale Mining, Sustainability

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karine Gagnon ◽  
Hartvig Christie ◽  
Karin Didderen ◽  
Camilla W. Fagerli ◽  
Laura L. Govers ◽  
...  

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 197
Author(s):  
He Zhang ◽  
Jingyi Peng ◽  
Dahlia Yu ◽  
Lie You ◽  
Rui Wang

Low-carbon governance at the county level has been an important issue for sustainable development due to the large contributions to carbon emission. However, the experiences of carbon emission governance at the county level are lacking. This paper discusses 5 carbon emission governance zones for 1753 counties. The zoning is formed according to a differentiated zoning method based on a multi-indicator evaluation to judge if the governance had better focus and had formulated a differentiated carbon emission governance system. According to zoning results, there is 1 high-carbon governance zone, 2 medium-carbon governance zones, and 2 low-carbon zones. The extensive high-carbon governance zone and medium-carbon zones are key governance areas, in which the counties are mainly located in the northern plain areas and southeast coastal areas and have contributed 51.88% of total carbon emissions. This paper proposes differentiated governance standards for each indicator of the 5 zones. The differentiated zoning method mentioned in this paper can be applied to other governance issues of small-scale regions.


Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 296
Author(s):  
Jessica D. DeWitt ◽  
Peter G. Chirico ◽  
Marissa A. Alessi ◽  
Kathleen M. Boston

Reconstruction and urban development in Kabul, Afghanistan, has prompted vast expansion of the clay quarrying and brick making industry. This study identified the extent and distribution of clay quarrying and brick kilns in the greater Kabul area between 1965 and 2018. Very high-resolution satellite imagery was interpreted to quantify and characterize the type, number, and location of brick kilns for 1965, 2004, 2011, and 2018. Geospatial analysis of kilns together with geologic data and the results of hyperspectral image analysis yielded information regarding the extent of relevant mineral resources. Finally, kernel density analysis of kiln locations for each date called attention to their shifting spatial distribution. The study found that the clay quarrying and brick making industry has expanded exponentially. The type of kilns has transitioned from artisanal style clamp kilns to small-scale Bull’s Trench Kilns (BTK), and ultimately to Fixed Chimney Bull’s Trench Kilns (FCBTK). While quarrying has occurred entirely within quaternary windblown loess and clay deposits, artisanal clamp kilns were located in fine sediments containing montmorillonite and FCBTKs have developed in sediments containing calcite and muscovite. The study’s inventory of kilns was then used to estimate kiln workforce at 27,500 workers and production at 1.579 billion bricks per year.


2020 ◽  
pp. 251484862093471
Author(s):  
Laura Imburgia ◽  
Henny Osbahr ◽  
Sarah Cardey ◽  
Janet Momsen

Genuine inclusive participation in the self-governance of communal irrigation systems remains a challenge. This article analyses the mechanisms of participation in irrigation water users’ associations (WUAs) with focus on women as leaders of those organizations by drawing on cases from a comparative, multicase mixed-method study in Ethiopia and Argentina. After having being a topic for decades in gender and development debates, in many irrigated areas of the world, WUAs continue to be male dominated at all levels, especially in influential positions. Findings in this article suggest that despite large socio-economic and cultural differences, the current water management systems in both research locations reinforce problems of unequal gender participation; women have more obstacles and constraints in establishing equal access in membership, participation, and decision making in irrigation management. The lack of inclusive participation and the low representation of women in leadership roles lead to WUAs being poorly rooted in their community of users. Incomplete social rootedness of WUAs jeopardizes their effectiveness and equality in water management and, as a result, affects long-term sustainability. Through analysis of empirical data of communal small-scale irrigation systems in both countries, the article discusses who participates, how and why they participate, and the reasons for low numbers of women in leadership roles within the WUAs. Finally, the article reflects on possible enabling conditions that could foster inclusive participation, increase the quantity and capacity of women in management and leadership roles, and the benefits this may bring to sustainable irrigation systems.


Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 691 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Tiemann ◽  
Irene Ring

In the context of considering natural capital in decision-making, the ecosystem services concept is steadily increasing in importance. This also holds for the forest sector in Germany. This development calls for a harmonisation of approaches and terms used in the forest sector, as well as being made compatible with the ecosystem services concept and relevant classifications. In Germany, and a number of Central European countries, a common way to assess the multifunctional benefits of forests is the forest function mapping method. Due to the federal multi-level governance system in Germany, each state has its own classification of forest functions and mapping. A first objective of this paper is to align the various forest function categories across German states as a basis to relate them to the ecosystem services concept. Second, this bottom-up approach is combined with a top-down approach, building on the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES). The aim is to develop a harmonised, methodological framework, suitable for accounting forest-related ecosystem services, as a step towards future ecosystem services monitoring and reporting commitments in the forest sector. Finally, the challenges and opportunities of the ecosystem services concept for forest management are discussed and ways forward are elaborated.


2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry K. Jacka

This article examines the social and environmental costs of living in the mineral age, wherein contemporary global livelihoods depend almost completely on the extraction of mineral resources. Owing to the logic of extractivism—the rapid and widespread removal of resources for exchange in global capitalist markets—both developed and developing countries are inextricably entangled in pursuing resource extraction as a means of sustaining current lifestyles as well as a key mechanism for promoting socioeconomic development. The past 15 years has seen a massive expansion of mineral resource extraction as many developing countries liberalized their mining sectors, allowing foreign capital and mining companies onto the lands of peasant farmers and indigenous people. This mining expansion has also facilitated the rise of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). Transformations in livelihoods and corporate practices as well as the environmental impacts and social conflicts wrought by mining are the central foci of this article.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-146
Author(s):  
Umme Sayeda

The post-COVID-19 new normal will arise as a game-changer in the policy-making of the world states. Accordingly, this article highlights the post-pandemic Bangladesh that should integrate biology affirmatively in the policy development procedures to reshape the new normal challenges as opportunities. The grounded theory method is adopted as a quantitative analysis tool relying on the secondary sources of data to portray the significance of biopolitics as political rationality in new norm Bangladesh. The researcher has used the neo-realism approach to develop the ‘Biopolitical Rationale Theory’, which uncovers how evolving neo-realist security demands the prioritization of biopolitics in every sphere of decision making for governing the post-pandemic new standard of existence. The 2020 corona outbreak proved that human life and the environment are the ultimate means of survival rather than the traditional security arrangements and extreme economic growth which are inhumane (rationality of death and militarization), unhygienic, and destructive to the environment (exploitation of nature is profitable). The article recommends some alternative new normal policies such as non-discriminative health policy, bordering in line with International Health Regulations (IHR), digitalization with better cybersecurity, virtualization of the tourist industry (application of Extended Reality), application of Career Resilience (CR), and Strategic Flexibility Analysis tools in the re-employment and career development, greening the economy, special arrangements for emergency health crisis and undertaking actions considering the environment as a remedy rather than a crisis. The review research concludes that the inclusion of biopolitics in the Bangladesh governance system can redesign the challenges of new normal as new opportunities. But the reshaping of such a new reality will itself prevail as a considerable challenge for Bangladesh.


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