Ebenezer Forkuo Amankwaa

Livelihoods in risk: exploring health and environmental implications of e-waste recycling as a livelihood strategy in Ghana

Ghanas pursuit of socio-economic growth has necessitated joining the information communication technology (ICT) revolution, thus increasing the consumption and obsolescence rate of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and the creation of what is popularly called e-waste. The absence of legislation governing its importation and disposal, combined with the dynamics of Accras urban economy, including neo-liberal policies and lack of formal job opportunities, has triggered peoples ingenuity to engage in novel occupations such as e-waste recycling. Though a lucrative strategy, it comes with a price for those involved: environmental health risks, a fact well articulated by a burgeoning literature. Nevertheless, little empirical evidence exists relating to this perceived relationship. Using questionnaires, FGDs and in-depth interviews, this study fills the lacuna. The findings reveal that the mean daily income of an e-waste worker is GH¢30, far above the daily minimum wage of GH¢4·48. Despite the positives, the findings also show that the environment and health can be compromised.

‘Away’ is a place: The impact of electronic waste recycling on blood lead levels in Ghana

E-waste recycling remains a major source of livelihood for many urban poor in developing countries, but this economic activity is fraught with significant environmental health risk. Yet, human exposure to the toxic elements associated with e-waste activities remains understudied and not evidently understood. This study investigates the impact of informal e-waste processing on the blood lead levels (BLLs) of e-waste workers and non-e-waste workers (mainly females working in activities that serve the Agbogbloshie e-waste site), and relates their lead exposure to socio-demographic and occupational characteristics. A total of 128 blood samples were analysed for lead levels. Surprisingly, the mean BLL (3.54μg/dL) of non-e-waste workers was slightly higher than that of e-waste workers (3.49μg/dL), although higher BLLs ranges were found among e-waste workers (0.50-18.80μg/dL) than non-e-waste workers (0.30-8.20μg/dL). Workers who engaged in e-waste burning tended to have the highest BLLs. In general, the BLLs are within the ABLES/US CDC reference level of 5μg/dL, although 12.3% of the workers have elevated BLLs, i.e. BLL ≥5μg/dL. The study concludes that the impact of e-waste recycling is not limited to workers alone. Traders and residents within the Agbogbloshie enclave are equally at risk through a range of environmental vectors. This calls for increased public awareness about the effects of human exposure to lead and other toxic elements from e-waste recycling. A key contribution is that government and stakeholder projects for safe e-waste infrastructure should disaggregate the e-waste value chain, recognize differential risk and resist one-size-fits-all strategies.

The divergence between acceptability of municipal services and urbanization in developing countries: insights from Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana

Abstract In most developing countries, the provision of municipal services and infrastructure invariably fails to match the pace and demands of urbanization. The outcome is often increased informality due to improper planning, official bureaucratic barriers and perhaps insufficient and shrinking public resources, which then makes leveraging private capital for public service provision imperative. Drawing on in-depth qualitative fieldwork in two Ghanaian cities, this paper aims to extend literature on the divergence between service provision and urbanization in developing countries. More specifically, it attempts to qualify recent macro-level data indicating that access to water, sanitation and electricity services in Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi is improving substantively. Contrary to dominant policy narratives circulating in Ghana, we illustrate how the acceptability of key municipal services within urban settings is often inadequate, and how acceptability is tied to spatial and temporal factors. We then identify and examine the reasons underpinning these variations. Through exploring residents’ perceptions of key services, and examining critically the possibility and feasibility of meeting urban service needs through leveraging private resources, this paper contributes to broader academic debates over urban service provision, while also feeding into contemporary policy discussions concerning how to achieve several of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Spatial and social transformations in a secondary city: the role of mobility in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana

Abstract Existing research on urban Ghana mainly focuses on processes occurring within the country’s major cities, thereby reproducing a trend within the social sciences to overlook the role of intermediate and secondary cities. This paper aims to address this shortcoming by exploring spatial and social transformations in Sekondi–Takoradi, one of Ghana’s secondary cities and the metropolitan area serving the region’s emerging rubber industries as well as the country’s oil and gas economy. Using qualitative interviews conducted with residents in five of the city’s neighbourhoods, and a modified version of Kaufmann’s typology of mobility, we examine migration into Sekondi–Takoradi, residential mobility within the city and the daily mobility of the city’s residents. The paper highlights how these diverse forms of mobility interact with processes taking place both within and outside Sekondi–Takoradi, most notably influencing and being influenced by livelihood strategies. It is argued that the city and its hinterlands can best be envisaged as a mobile networked whole, rather than consisting of disconnected and compartmentalized locales. The paper thus contributes to broader debates on how mobility shapes urbanization by providing new empirical data on events unfolding in Africa’s secondary cities, and extends existing research by providing a counter-narrative to literature that examines the city and its surrounding rural areas separately.