Michael O. Erdiaw-Kwasie

Impacts of Mining on the Natural Environment and Wellbeing of Mining-Fringe Communities in Prestea, Ghana

Although Small Scale surface mining has grown significantly in the developing world in recent decades, the hive of environmental and socio-economic discontents that accompanies large-scale surface mining activities are very much unprecedented. This paper therefore examines the operations of large scale mining group in the context of such discontents, in the case of Prestea, a vibrant mining town in the Prestea-Huni Valley District Assembly Area in the Western Region of Ghana. Case study approach within a naturalistic and interpretivist paradigm is the research design for this proposed study. The specific case involves the activities of BGL within the context of community safety and sustainability. Both quantitative and qualitative primary dataset were used in this study, coupled with observations and site visits. In-community survey was carried out with a total of seventy respondents (including mining employees) and SPSS analysis was done on the gathered data. The qualitative primary data were collected using in-depth, semistructured interviews with representatives of case company and stakeholder institutions and departments. Secondary data from case company and stakeholder institutions were subjected to content analysis. The findings of the study reveal that although the economic contribution of the mining sector towards the area’s economy is significant, the environmental and social wellbeing of host communities do not received equal enthusiasm and attention from the case company. The paper therefore critically assesses the effectiveness of the current remedial measures by the case company and makes policy recommendations to promote cleaner and safer production.

Gender and labour force inequality in small-scale gold mining in Ghana

Gender inequality is an inevitable concomitant of the innate poverty in humanity, a situation to which the Ghanaian society is no exception. This paper explores the underlying elements of gender inequality pertinent to women in the small-scale gold mining sector in Ghana drawing inference from a case study of the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly Area in the Western Region. The contribution of women to the smallscale gold mining sector and through that poverty reduction and national development is immense, notwithstanding a number of factors that alongside militate against their well being. The drawbacks have to do with the unregulated, dangerous and insecure conditions of the small-scale gold mining operators which, for the most part, are discriminative against women. These are in areas of the health, income and capacity building package benefits given to their labour force. The policy implication is the need for government to institute gender-sensitive workplace regulatory policies and programmes not only to be adhered to in all sectors of the economy including the small-scale mining sector. Necessarily, it is the responsibility of the local and all the other relevant regulatory authorities to ensure that the designated policies as well as the attendant rules and regulations are enforced.

Reimaging socio-spatial planning: Towards a synthesis between sense of place and social sustainability approaches:

Socio-spatial planning forums are shedding light on how people embrace, contest or reject social changes. These understandings are now being used to explore sense of place and social sustainability approaches in spatial studies, and provide input into the formulation of socio-spatial planning interventions. Research evidence, however, suggests that the integration of elements from each approach into a unified working model can help overcome existing conceptual confusions and revitalise socio-spatial planning processes. Our research therefore seeks to identify these confusions, as well as the supplementary elements in each approach, resulting in the creation of a conceptual framework that reimages socio-spatial planning. We argue that there are elements conceptually linked in each approach that could be re-conceptualised into a more robust framework for socio-spatial planning. The article further proposes that the synthesis will not only negate the shortcomings inherent in each approach but will also provide a more responsive medium for the current dynamic societal context of socio-spatial planning. Our findings advance socio-spatial planning theory and contribute to a foundation for the future research aimed at improving the understanding of background theories.

Is regional government-governance nexus delivering on social sustainability promises? Empirical evidence from Moranbah in Australia

ABSTRACT Social sustainability, in theory, should result in responsiveness to change, a durable sense of community trust and interdependent institutional structures. However, recent studies indicate that current sustainability efforts of regional local government are not yielding anticipated outcomes. Drawing on two social theories of Henri Lefebvre, this paper offers an empirical analysis of the ability of the government–governance nexus to deliver on social sustainability promises in Moranbah in regional Australia. Study findings revealed that the Moranbah government–governance nexus suffers from adversarial relationships between key actors that result in a distrust of politics and power, the absence of a defined governance system, community alienation, and State Government dominance and intervention. These experiences of the government–governance nexus have rendered social sustainability a distant hope for Moranbah’s residents. This paper suggests a reform in sustainability policies to improve the current situation in the case region, and theoretical propositions for future research.