Small-scale Mining, the SDGs and Human Insecurity in Ghana

This chapter discusses small-scale miningMining in GhanaGhana in the context of two intergovernmental developmentDevelopment indicators—the United NationsUnited Nations (UN) (UN) Sustainable DevelopmentDevelopment Goals 2030 (SDGs) and the African UnionAfrican Union (AU)’s Agenda 2063Agenda 2063 (AU2063). Using the management and governanceGovernance of artisanal and small-scale miningMining (ASM) activities in GhanaGhana as a case study, we argue that the achievability of selected SDGs and the AU2063 aspirations in GhanaGhana (and potentially in AfricaAfrica more generally) depends on a political internalisation of a broader understanding of the (human) securitySecurity of countries’ citizens and peoples. For example, the laws and regulations governing small-scale miningMining in GhanaGhana are not normatively developed and offer little voice and benefit to host peoples and communities in areas of abundant natural resourcesNatural resources. This results in numerous human securitySecurity threats and concerns such as destruction of communities and their livelihoods, violent clashes and environmental degradation among many others. The chapter argues that the ASM sector needs to be understood as involving fundamental human securitySecurity concerns as part of the broader national, regional and global sustainability discussions, rather than the sectorial perspective in which the discussion is usually framed. Drawing from selected SDGs and AU2063 goals and aspirations, the chapter contends that the SDGs and AU2063 offer broad normative but also tangible metrics by which to assess the impacts of ASM in GhanaGhana, and adopting human securitySecurity as a governanceGovernance and management indicator promises a more effective conduit for achieving selected SDGs and AU2063 aspirations in GhanaGhana.