Effective environmental governance and outcomes for gold mining in Obuasi and Birim North Districts of Ghana

Abstract

Environmental governance of mining has been central in contemporary discourse of the development of mining projects in Africa and parts of the developing world. This paper assesses the effectiveness of environmental governance of gold mining in Obuasi and Birim North Districts of Ghana and the nature of outcomes that effective governance produces for communities and the environment. A survey of four communities and interviews of 384 respondents were conducted using questionnaires, focus group discussion and field observations. An index of the value of responses was created to measure the effectiveness of environmental governance using five variables (participation, accountability, fairness, partnership and institutional quality). A logit regression model was also used to determine the nature of outcomes produced by effective environmental governance for communities and the environment. The results showed that environmental governance was on the average effective and produced outcomes which were beneficial for communities and the environment. The study recommended an expansion of the scope and an increase in the standards of environmental governance to guarantee uninterrupted access of communities to environmental resources.