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Artisanal small-scale mining and mercury pollution in Ghana: a critical examination of a messy minerals and gold mining policy

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  • Frederick Armah
  • Isaac Luginaah
  • Justice Odoi

Abstract

The use of mercury in artisanal small-scale gold mining has generated intense debate because of its deleterious effects on human health. A narrative policy analysis of artisanal gold mining debates in Ghana’s parliament was carried out in this study. The results show that civil society and policy makers use various rhetorical idioms particularly rhetoric of loss, entitlement, endangerment, unreason, and calamity to support claims-making in the artisanal mining debates. This reveals the co-mingling of politics and science in environmental policymaking. Although the science of mercury has remained almost the same over time in the debates, the understanding of how knowledge is produced has certainly changed over time. The political and economic history of gold mining indicates that colonial and post-independence policies partly account for the persistence and limited integration of artisanal gold mining in the national economy and, by extension, the persistence of mercury pollution in mining communities. Consistently, opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) argued in favor of artisanal miners, unlike their counterparts on the other side of the political divide (ruling government) who virtually sought to blame the victims (artisanal gold miners). However, whenever political change of power occurred, these very same MPs changed their rhetoric from pro-artisanal mining to anti-artisanal mining. Furthermore, anti-artisanal gold mining remarks from government lulls in election years. Copyright AESS 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Frederick Armah & Isaac Luginaah & Justice Odoi, 2013. "Artisanal small-scale mining and mercury pollution in Ghana: a critical examination of a messy minerals and gold mining policy," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 3(4), pages 381-390, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jenvss:v:3:y:2013:i:4:p:381-390
    DOI: 10.1007/s13412-013-0147-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Tsikata, Fui S., 1997. "The vicissitudes of mineral policy in Ghana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(1-2), pages 9-14, June.
    2. Bush, Ray, 2009. "'Soon there will be no-one left to take the corpses to the morgue': Accumulation and abjection in Ghana's mining communities," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1-2), pages 57-63.
    3. Fernando Aragon & Juan Pablo Rud, 2012. "Mining, Pollution and Agricultural Productivity: Evidence from Ghana," Discussion Papers dp12-08, Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University.
    4. Nyame, Frank K. & Blocher, Joseph, 2010. "Influence of land tenure practices on artisanal mining activity in Ghana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 47-53, March.
    5. Frederick Armah & Samuel Obiri & David Yawson & Ernest Afrifa & Genesis Yengoh & Johanna Alkan Olsson & Justice Odoi, 2011. "Assessment of legal framework for corporate environmental behaviour and perceptions of residents in mining communities in Ghana," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(2), pages 193-209.
    6. Greg Hampton, 2009. "Narrative policy analysis and the integration of public involvement in decision making," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 42(3), pages 227-242, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Heidingsfelder, Jens, 2019. "Private sustainability governance in the making – A case study analysis of the fragmentation of sustainability governance for the gold sector," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Henry Adobor, 2023. "Contested concept, competing narratives, and coercive policy intervention: A study of government intervention in the illegal artisanal mining sector in Ghana," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 1814-1832, October.

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