IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jrpoli/v35y2010i1p47-53.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Influence of land tenure practices on artisanal mining activity in Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Nyame, Frank K.
  • Blocher, Joseph

Abstract

This paper examines the issue of land tenure and how it influences artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) activity in Ghana. Over the past few decades, attempts by governments in sub-Saharan Africa to regulate or formalize ASM as a result of the sector's increasing socio-economic and environmental importance have largely been unsuccessful. Even though mining laws have tended to vest all minerals in the state, increasing evidence suggests that mineral-rich lands for artisanal mining continue to be frequently traded between local landowners and miners or interested groups outside the official legal regime. This development, i.e. land trading for artisanal mining, contributes significantly towards proliferation of illegal ASM activity and hence potentially challenges attempts by governments and development partners to formalise the sector.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:35:y:2010:i:1:p:47-53
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301-4207(09)00052-X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Quisumbing, Agnes R & Payongayong, Ellen & Aidoo, J B & Otsuka, Keijiro, 2001. "Women's Land Rights in the Transition to Individualized Ownership: Implications for Tree-Resource Management in Western Ghana," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(1), pages 157-181, October.
    2. Gavin Hilson & Clive Potter, 2003. "Why Is Illegal Gold Mining Activity so Ubiquitous in Rural Ghana?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 15(2‐3), pages 237-270.
    3. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Otsuka, Keijiro, 2001. "Land, trees, and women: evolution of land tenure institutions in Western Ghana and Sumatra," Research reports 121, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Mohammed Banchirigah, Sadia, 2006. "How have reforms fuelled the expansion of artisanal mining? Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 165-171, September.
    5. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Payongayong, Ellen & Aidoo, J. B. & Otsuka, Keijiro, 1999. "Women's land rights in the transition to individualized ownership," FCND discussion papers 58, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Banda, Webby, 2023. "A proposed DEMATEL based framework for appraising challenges in the artisanal and small-scale mining sector," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    2. Afriyie, Kwadwo & Abass, Kabila, 2020. "Profiting from illegality: A discursive analysis of the chainsaw operation in rural Ghana," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    3. Uche, Chinyere & Khalid, Sharif, 2022. "Corporate reporting on conflict: A struggle over land," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    4. Damonte, Gerardo, 2021. "Limited state governance and institutional hybridization in alluvial ASM in Peru," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    5. Radley, Ben, 2020. "A distributional analysis of artisanal and industrial wage levels and expenditure in the Congolese mining sector," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 106512, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Emmanuel Frimpong Boamah & Clifford Amoako, 2020. "Planning by (mis)rule of laws: The idiom and dilemma of planning within Ghana’s dual legal land systems," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 38(1), pages 97-115, February.
    7. Hook, Andrew, 2019. "Fluid formalities: Insights on small-scale gold mining dynamics, informal practices, and mining governance in Guyana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 324-338.
    8. Kumah, Richard, 2022. "Artisanal and small-scale mining formalization challenges in Ghana: Explaining grassroots perspectives," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Corbett, Tony & O'Faircheallaigh, Ciaran & Regan, Anthony, 2017. "‘Designated areas’ and the regulation of artisanal and small-scale mining," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 393-401.
    10. Fritz, Morgane M.C. & Maxson, Peter A. & Baumgartner, Rupert J., 2016. "The mercury supply chain, stakeholders and their responsibilities in the quest for mercury-free gold," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 177-192.
    11. Sarpong Sam, 2012. "A Perspective on Ghana's Mining Sector," New Global Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 6(2), pages 1-22, July.
    12. De Jong, Terah U. & Sauerwein, Titus, 2021. "State-owned minerals, village-owned land: How a shared property rights framework helped formalize artisanal diamond miners in Côte d’Ivoire between 1986 and 2016," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    13. Debrah, Akua Asamoah & Mtegha, Hudson & Cawood, Frederick, 2018. "Social licence to operate and the granting of mineral rights in sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring tensions between communities, governments and multi-national mining companies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 95-103.
    14. Van Bockstael, Steven, 2019. "Land grabbing “from below”? Illicit artisanal gold mining and access to land in post-conflict Côte d’Ivoire," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 904-914.
    15. Hausermann, Heidi & Ferring, David & Atosona, Bernadette & Mentz, Graciela & Amankwah, Richard & Chang, Augustus & Hartfield, Kyle & Effah, Emmanuel & Asuamah, Grace Yeboah & Mansell, Coryanne & Sastr, 2018. "Land-grabbing, land-use transformation and social differentiation: Deconstructing “small-scale” in Ghana's recent gold rush," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 103-114.
    16. 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.
    17. Youmanli OUOBA, 2018. "Industrial mining land use and poverty in regions of Burkina Faso," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(4), pages 511-520, July.
    18. Amponsah, Owusu & Blija, Daniel Kwame & Ayambire, Raphael Anammasiya & Takyi, Stephen Appiah & Mensah, Henry & Braimah, Imoro, 2022. "Global urban sprawl containment strategies and their implications for rapidly urbanising cities in Ghana," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    19. Hook, Andrew, 2019. "Over-spilling institutions: The political ecology of ‘greening’ the small-scale gold mining sector in Guyana," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 438-453.
    20. Hirons, Mark, 2014. "Shifting sand, shifting livelihoods? Reflections on a coastal gold rush in Ghana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 83-89.
    21. Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai, 2017. "Competitive clientelism and the political economy of mining in Ghana," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-078-17, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    22. Lala Safiatou Ouedraogo & Patrick Mundler, 2019. "Local Governance and Labor Organizations on Artisanal Gold Mining Sites in Burkina Faso," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-21, January.
    23. Huntington, Heather & Marple-Cantrell, Kate, 2021. "Customary governance of artisanal and small-scale mining in Guinea: Social and environmental practices and outcomes⋆," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    24. Kwasi Anarfi & Ross A. Hill & Chris Shiel, 2020. "Highlighting the Sustainability Implications of Urbanisation: A Comparative Analysis of Two Urban Areas in Ghana," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-24, August.
    25. Deberdt, Raphael, 2022. "Land access rights in minerals’ responsible sourcing. The case of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Pandolfelli, Lauren, 2010. "Promising Approaches to Address the Needs of Poor Female Farmers: Resources, Constraints, and Interventions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 581-592, April.
    2. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Otsuka, Keijiro, 2001. "Land Inheritance and Schooling in Matrilineal Societies: Evidence from Sumatra," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(12), pages 2093-2110, December.
    3. Werthmann, Katja, 2009. "Working in a boom-town: Female perspectives on gold-mining in Burkina Faso," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1-2), pages 18-23.
    4. Peterman, Amber & Behrman, Julia & Quisumbing, Agnes, 2010. "A review of empirical evidence on gender differences in nonland agricultural inputs, technology, and services in developing countries," IFPRI discussion papers 975, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Roy Maconachie & Gavin Hilson, 2011. "Safeguarding livelihoods or exacerbating poverty? Artisanal mining and formalization in West Africa," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(4), pages 293-303, November.
    6. Saldarriaga-Isaza, Adrián & Villegas-Palacio, Clara & Arango, Santiago, 2013. "The public good dilemma of a non-renewable common resource: A look at the facts of artisanal gold mining," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 224-232.
    7. Francis Xavier Dery Tuokuu & Uwafiokun Idemudia & Eugene B. G Bawelle & John Bosco Baguri Sumani, 2020. "Criminalization of “galamsey” and livelihoods in Ghana: Limits and consequences," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(1), pages 52-65, February.
    8. Siegel, Shefa & Veiga, Marcello M., 2009. "Artisanal and small-scale mining as an extralegal economy: De Soto and the redefinition of "formalization"," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(1-2), pages 51-56.
    9. Wireko-Gyebi, Rejoice Selorm & Asibey, Michael Osei & Baah-Ennumh, Theresa Yaaba, 2022. "Planning for the effective and sustainable management of Ghana’s artisanal small-scale gold mining industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    10. La Ferrara, Eliana, 2007. "Descent rules and strategic transfers. Evidence from matrilineal groups in Ghana," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 280-301, July.
    11. Zvarivadza, T., 2018. "Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining as a challenge and possible contributor to Sustainable Development," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 49-58.
    12. Fernando Morante-Carballo & Néstor Montalván-Burbano & Maribel Aguilar-Aguilar & Paúl Carrión-Mero, 2022. "A Bibliometric Analysis of the Scientific Research on Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-29, July.
    13. Mark L. Wilson & Elisha Renne & Carla Roncoli & Peter Agyei-Baffour & Emmanuel Yamoah Tenkorang, 2015. "Integrated Assessment of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Ghana — Part 3: Social Sciences and Economics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-24, July.
    14. Lim, Sung Soo & Winter-Nelson, Alex & Arends-Kuenning, Mary, 2007. "Household Bargaining Power and Agricultural Supply Response: Evidence from Ethiopian Coffee Growers," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1204-1220, July.
    15. Carmen Diana Deere & Cheryl Doss, 2006. "The Gender Asset Gap: What Do We Know And Why Does It Matter?," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1-2), pages 1-50.
    16. Abdulai, Awudu & Owusu, Victor & Goetz, Renan, 2011. "Land tenure differences and investment in land improvement measures: Theoretical and empirical analyses," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 66-78, September.
    17. Hilson, Gavin & Hilson, Abigail & Maconachie, Roy, 2018. "Opportunity or necessity? Conceptualizing entrepreneurship at African small-scale mines," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 286-302.
    18. Carr, Edward R., 2008. "Men's Crops and Women's Crops: The Importance of Gender to the Understanding of Agricultural and Development Outcomes in Ghana's Central Region," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 900-915, May.
    19. Banchirigah, Sadia Mohammed, 2008. "Challenges with eradicating illegal mining in Ghana: A perspective from the grassroots," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 29-38, March.
    20. Suyanto, S. & Tomich, Thomas P. & Otsuka, Keijiro, 2001. "Land tenure and farm management efficiency: the case of paddy and cinnamon production in customary land areas of Sumatra," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 45(3), pages 1-26.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Artisanal mining Land tenure Ghana;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:35:y:2010:i:1:p:47-53. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30467 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.