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Natural Resource Exploitation, Environment and Poverty; Linkages and Impact on Rural Households in Asutifi District in Ghana

Aubell, Harpa Sif Jarlsdottir; Mensah, Henry Kofi
Master thesis
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master_devl_2007_aubell.pdf (914.7Kb)
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http://hdl.handle.net/11250/135131
Utgivelsesdato
2007
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  • Master's theses in Development Management [90]
Sammendrag
The controversial negative relationship between the abundance of natural resources and

economic growth and development has been at the centre of several development

research discourses. It is often explained that, natural resources when exploited can be

used to generate economic growth and development. However, this assertion is often

rebuffed by other explanations that, natural resource abundance rather create more

difficulties than benefits. The abundance of oil, coal, gold and even trees have been the

route cause of problems such as riots, wars, corruption, inflation, environmental

degradation and reduced economic growth in many resource rich nations especially

within Sub-Sahara Africa.

Governments in developing countries with large amounts of resource have pursued

policies that seek to expand the exploitation of existing natural resources to generate

income for economic development. Over the years not much attention has been paid to

the negative effects of policies that centre on the exploitation of natural as the main tool

for economic growth and development. Natural resource exploitation has proven of

potentially causing irreparable distortion on the environment and the livelihood of the

people in the affected communities.

This research attempts to make an investigation into the linkages between natural

resource exploitation, environmental degradation and poverty, and the impact that natural

resource exploitation has on the livelihood of rural households. Using Ghana’s gold

mining sector as a case study, this research brings new evidence more precisely the area

of Asutifi, on the linkages between mining, environmental degradation and poverty.

Employing the Sustainable Livelihood Approach as an analytical tool, this demonstrates

the negative relationship that exists between the abundance of natural resources and

economic growth and development. This is done by assessing the impacts of natural

resource exploitation on the rural households with help of the Sustainable Livelihood

Framework showing examples of how the exploitation can lead to poverty.

The first chapter of this paper is devoted for a general introduction to the phenomenon of

natural resource exploitation and its linkages with environmental degradation and

poverty. It also set out the problem to be investigated and outlines the objectives of the

study. This is followed by the literature review chapter which reviews literature from the

national and international mainstreams on themes such as; natural resource abundance

and economic growth/development, resource exploitation, environmental degradation and

poverty; natural resources and sustainable livelihood among other related mainstreams

and theories.

The third chapter of this study gives an overview of the extractive sector of Ghana’s

economy and a brief description of the study area. It reviews the growth and expansion in

Ghana’s mining industry and its contributions to the growth of the economy in general.

The regulatory environment in the mining sector and the impact it has on the social and

physical environment is also discussed here.

iii

The theoretical basis of this study is introduced in the fourth chapter. The chapter tries to

explain the sustainable livelihood approach which was conceptualized by the UK

Department for International Development (DFID). This Approach is widely used in

development research and thus was considered the most appropriate for analyzing the

interface between natural resource exploitation and the creation of new poverty or

poverty exacerbation

The fifth chapter explains the methodological approach for this study. It also reviews

some existing methodological approaches and discusses the choice of research methods

for this study. It also explains the analysis procedures used and the process by which the

data collection was conducted.

This study’s findings are presented and discussed in the sixth chapter. In this chapter the

study uses the sustainable livelihood framework, to assess to what extent mining has

distorted the livelihood systems in the study area. It also uses some aspects of Mining-

Induced Displacement and Resettlement Model.

In the end, this all sums up to conclude, that the impacts of mineral resources exploitation

on rural households in mining communities in the Asutifi District of Ghana have so far

been negative, socially, economically, health-wise and environmentally. It recommends

that government and all stakeholders in the mining sector should come together to device

strategies on how to make mining operations contribute positively to community

development rather than negatively. As the situation is today, evident support that natural

resource exploitation is much more a case of poverty exacerbation than sustainable

development.
Beskrivelse
Master's Thesis in Development Management - Agder University College, 2007
Utgiver
Høgskolen i Agder
Agder University College

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