Legal and Regulatory Evidence on Mining in Ghana Forest Reserves: A Qualitative Perspective on the Atewa Range Forest Reserve
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14738/aivp.1303.18806Keywords:
Unregulated mining, biodiversity loss, legal and regulatory structures, conservation of green environmentAbstract
A global initiative to restore forest reserves in response to biodiversity loss caused by unregulated mining operations has gained significant attention, calling for the conservation of green environments, particularly forest reserves. In addressing this menace, little to no critical attention has been given to the legal and regulatory structures governing mining in forest reserves. This study critiques the Ghanaian mining regulations to identify weaknesses in the legal and regulatory framework governing mining in forest reserves, using secondary data supplemented with key informant interviews, in-depth interviews and focus group discussion data using thematic analysis. The study found that the interference by authorizing bodies/agencies through directives, lobbying, and negotiation undermines the conservation of the Atewa Forest and the attainment of global SDG agenda. The study recommends for amendment of the mining laws to clearly define "No-go zones" in forest reserves due to conservation purposes.
References
Agbo, V. M., & Swatuk, L. (2023). From conflict to collaboration: Atewa Forest governance. In Natural Resources Forum (Vol. 47, No. 1, pp. 134-151). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Akhtar, N., Syakir Ishak, M. I., Bhawani, S. A., & Umar, K. (2021). Various natural and anthropogenic factors responsible for water quality degradation: A review. Water, 13(19), 2660. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13192660
Al-Kayid, J., Al-Makhzoumi, O., El-manaseer, S., & Ibrahim, A. A. (2024). Water environmental crimes and their countermeasures in comparative law. In Business Analytical Capabilities and Artificial Intelligence-enabled Analytics: Applications and Challenges in the Digital Era, Volume 2 (pp. 223-233). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
Andrea R, & Lambrou R. (2008). Gender and Equity Issues in Liquid Biofuels Production: Minimizing the Risks to Maximize the Opportunities. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization. Pg 8-15.
Atahar, S. A. (2021). Do people displaced by development need more than financial compensation? Evidence from Bangladesh. Development Policy Review, 39(2), 212-232. https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12487
Atanga, R. A., Kainyande, A., Tankpa, V., & Osunmadewa, B. (2024). Perceived Status Of Ecosystem Services Emanating From A Forest Reserve: Evidence From Atewa Range Forest Reserve In Ghana. Environmental Management, 73(4), 725-741. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-023-01933-7
Awogbami, S. O., Ogunyemi, O., Adebayo, P. A., & Raimi, M. O. (2024). Protecting the Health of Black Communities: Assessing the Impact of Environmental Hazards from Gold Mining Activities on Health Outcomes among Residents of Osun State, Nigeria. JMIR Preprints, 15(09), 2024.
Conservation International (2007). Biodiversity in the Atewa Range Forest Reserve, Ghana. Washington DC, Arlington, USA: Center for Applied Biodiversity Science.
Cramer, V. (2023). The Memory of Trees: The future of eucalypts and our home among them. Thames & Hudson Australia.
Danilenko, G. M. (2024). Law-making in the International Community (Vol. 15). Brill.
De Cruz, P. (2024). Comparative law in a changing world. Taylor & Francis.
Dehkordi, M. M., Nodeh, Z. P., Dehkordi, K. S., Khorjestan, R. R., & Ghaffarzadeh, M. (2024). Soil, air, and water pollution from mining and industrial activities: Sources of pollution, environmental impacts, and prevention and control methods. Results in Engineering, 102729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2024.102729
Dewey, M., Woll, C., & Ronconi, L. (2021). The political economy of law enforcement (No. 21/1). MaxPo Discussion Paper.
Fiorino, D. J. (2023). Making environmental policy. Univ of California Press.
Friends of Nations (FoN), (2014). Small-scale-Mining-in-Ghana [http://fonghana.org/foncommences-actionresearch-into-pdf] (accessed 2014 November 17).
Ghana National Commission for UNESCO (2010). http://unescoghana.org/achievements.php
González-González, A., Clerici, N., & Quesada, B. (2021). Growing mining contribution to Colombian deforestation. Environmental Research Letters, 16(6), 064046. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfcf8
Goodwin-Gill, G. S., McAdam, J., & Dunlop, E. (2021). The refugee in international law. Oxford University Press.
Gostin, L. O., Meier, B. M., & Stocking, B. (2021). Developing an innovative pandemic treaty to advance global health security. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 49(3), 503-508. https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2021.72
Hill, M., & Varone, F. (2021). The public policy process. Routledge.
Howard, C., & Miller, R. (2020). Social policy, public policy: From problem to practice. Routledge.
Howlett, M., & Cashore, B. (2020). Public policy: definitions and approaches. A modern guide to public policy, 10-21.
Hutchinson, A. (2023). Global scoping of wildlife crime offences, penalties, and statistics. The Global Journal of Animal Law, 11(1).
Jones, K., Brown, J., & Bradshaw, J. (2023). Issues in social policy. Taylor & Francis.
Karki, T. (2023). Unregulated Neoliberalism, Urban Land Grabbing, and Environmental Destruction in Kathmandu Valley. Urban Land Grabbing, and Environmental Destruction in Kathmandu Valley (April 2, 2023). http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4407241
Kinoti, K. (2022). The Green Belt Movement: Women, Land, and Development. Global Africana Review, 6(1), 38-50. https://doi.org/10.17615/z431-9a94
Klabbers, J. (2023). The concept of treaty in international law (Vol. 22). BRILL.
Kolb, R. (2023). The law of treaties: An introduction. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Kumar, R., Kumar, A., & Saikia, P. (2022). Deforestation and forests degradation impacts on the environment. In Environmental Degradation: Challenges and Strategies for Mitigation (pp. 19-46). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Laursen, F., & Vanhoonacker, S. (Eds.). (2023). The intergovernmental conference on political union: institutional reforms, new policies and international identity of the European Community. BRILL.
Lim, T. S. (2024). (Australian) archaeology and heritage: The future of the past. Australian Archaeology, 90(1), 64-65. https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2024.2317547
Malhi, G. S., Kaur, M., & Kaushik, P. (2021). Impact of climate change on agriculture and its mitigation strategies: A review. Sustainability, 13(3), 1318. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031318
Mensah-Odum, N., Sarfo-Mensah, P., & Antoh, E. F. (2023). Institutional Response to Mining in Forest Reserves in Ghana: A Case Study of the Atewa Range Forest Reserve. British Journal of Healthcare and Medical Research-Vol, 10(6). https://doi.org/10.14738/bjhmr.106.15703.
Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act, 2015 (Act 900) Minerals and Mining (Amendment) Act, 2019 (Act 995)
Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703)
Mining policy: National Mining Policy, 2014.
Morin-Crini, N., Lichtfouse, E., Liu, G., Balaram, V., Ribeiro, A. R. L., Lu, Z., ... & Crini, G. (2022). Worldwide cases of water pollution by emerging contaminants: a review. Environmental Chemistry Letters, 20(4), 2311-2338. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-022-01447-4
Noy, I. (2023). Waiting for displacement: Land, compensation, and spatiotemporal inequality in a mining-affected Indian village. Geoforum, 144, 103821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103821
Orozco, Z. T. (2022). Informal gold miners, state fragmentation, and resource governance in Bolivia and Peru. Latin American Politics and Society, 64(2), 45-66. https://doi.org/10.1017/lap.2022.5
Raihan, A. (2024). Enhancing carbon sequestration through tropical forest management: A review. Journal of Forestry and Natural Resources, 3(1), 33-48. Retrieved from https://journals.hu.edu.et/hujournals/index.php/jfnr/article/view/96
Raihan, A., & Tuspekova, A. (2022). Nexus between energy use, industrialization, forest area, and carbon dioxide emissions: New insights from Russia. Journal of Environmental Science and Economics, 1(4), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.56556/jescae.v1i4.269
Raihan, A., Begum, R. A., & Said, M. N. M. (2021). A meta-analysis of the economic value of forest carbon stock. Geografia, 17(4), 321-338. https://doi.org/10.17576/geo-2021-1704-22
Rust, T. C. (2020). Watching over Yellowstone: The US Army's Experience in America's First National Park, 1886–1918. University Press of Kansas.
Selznick, P. (2020). Law, society, and industrial justice (Vol. 30). Quid Pro Books.
Sharif, S. M., & Uddin, M. K. (2023). Environmental crimes and green criminology in Bangladesh. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 23(3), 490-510. https://doi.org/10.1177/17488958211057696
Smyth, E., & Vanclay, F. (2024). Social impacts of land acquisition, resettlement and restrictions on land use. In Handbook of Social Impact Assessment and Management (pp. 355-376). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Soltangheisi, A., George, S., & Tibbett, M. (2023). Soil characteristics and fertility of the unique jarrah forest of Southwestern Australia, with particular consideration of plant nutrition and land rehabilitation. Land, 12(6), 1236. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12061236
Suglo, P., Effah, P., Acheampong, A. A., Sunkari, R., & Yeboah, A. (2021). Effects of illegal mining on the environment, economy, and agricultural productivity. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 6(4), 79-91. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.bmb.20210604.11
Taulbee, J. L., & Von Glahn, G. (2022). Law among nations: an introduction to public international law. Routledge. The1992 Constitution of Ghana
Vranich, R. (2023). Beyond Preservation and Use: National Parks and Settler Colonialism in Western Canada, 1880s–1930s. Prairie History, (10), 5-19.
Yang, Y., Tilman, D., Jin, Z., Smith, P., Barrett, C. B., Zhu, Y. G., ... & Zhuang, M. (2024). Climate change exacerbates the environmental impacts of agriculture. Science, 385(6713), eadn3747. https://doi.org/110.1126/science.adn3747
Yuan, X., Li, S., Chen, J., Yu, H., Yang, T., Wang, C., ... & Ao, X. (2024). Impacts of global climate change on agricultural production: a comprehensive review. Agronomy, 14(7), 1360. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14071360
Zaid, M., Musa, M., Arjuna Adinda, F., & Cait, L. (2023). The Sanctions on Environmental Performances: An Assessment of Indonesia and Brazilia Practice. Journal of Human Rights, Culture and Legal System, 3(2), 236-264. http://repository.uir.ac.id/id/eprint/22108
Zhichkin, K., Nosov, V., & Zhichkina, L. (2020). The express method for assessing the degraded lands reclamation costs. In International Scientific Conference on Architecture and Construction (pp. 483-492). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Mensah-Odum, N., Sarfo-Mensah, P. , Fredua-Antoh, E.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
