Institutional Corruption and Green Crime in Rural Ghana: A Social and Ecological Disorganisation Analysis of Gold Mining Under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Extractivist Regime

This chapter examines the intersection of institutional corruption and environmental crime in rural Ghana, focusing on gold extraction. Using a social and ecological disorganisation framework, it argues that the erosion of governance structures, shaped by colonial legacies and enduring legal dualism, has enabled environmental and social harm. Weak regulatory enforcement, widespread corruption among statutory and customary authorities, and limited state capacity intensify social and ecological breakdown. Chinese companies, particularly those linked to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), exploit these disordered contexts to carry out environmentally destructive practices with little accountability. The resulting degradation disproportionately affects rural populations as collusion between multinational actors and local elites further weakens resistance and undermine collective governance in rural Ghana. Structural constraints, including conflicting land rights, jurisdictional overlap, and fragmented enforcement, impede efforts to address rural green crime. The chapter concludes that without addressing the systemic roots of social disorganisation and corruption, green crime will persist, driven by global mineral demand, deepening the marginalisation of rural communities and accelerating ecological decline in rural Ghana.