‘Fair trade gold’: Antecedents, prospects and challenges     

Gavin Hilson 《Geoforum》2008,39(1):386-400

This paper critically examines the challenges with, and impacts of, adopting the models in place for fair trade agriculture in the artisanal gold mining sector. Over the past two years, an NGO-led ‘fair trade gold’ movement has surfaced, its crystallization fuelled by a burgeoning body of evidence that points to impoverished artisanal miners in developing countries receiving low payments for their gold, as well as working in hazardous and unsanitary conditions. Proponents of fair trade gold contest that increased interaction between artisanal miners and Western jewellers could facilitate the former receiving fairer prices for gold, accessing support services, and ultimately, improving their quality of life. In the case of sub-Saharan Africa, however, the gold being mined on an artisanal scale does not supply Western retailers as perhaps believed; it is rather an important source of foreign exchange, which host governments employ buyers to collect for their coffers. It is maintained here that if the underlying purpose of fair trade is to improve the livelihoods and well-being of subsistence producers in developing countries, then the models that have proved so successful in alleviating the hardships of agro-producers of ‘tropical’ commodities such as coffee, tea, bananas and cocoa, should be adapted to artisanal gold mining in sub-Saharan Africa. Campaigns promoting ‘fair trade gold’ in the region should view host governments, and not Western retailers, as the ‘end consumer’, and focus on improving governance at the grassroots, organizing informal operators into working cooperatives, and addressing complications with purchasing arrangements - all of which would go a long way toward improving the livelihoods of subsistence artisanal miners. A case study of Noyem, Ghana, the location of a sprawling illegal gold mining community, is presented, which magnifies these challenges further and provides perspective on how they can be overcome.  相似文献   

Assessing land use and land cover change in the Wassa West District of Ghana using remote sensing   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

John Manyimadin Kusimi 《GeoJournal》2008,71(4):249-259

Vast tracts of forests are lost globally every year especially in the developing countries of the tropics due to various human activities such as lumbering, farming, bush fires, surface mining and urbanization. The rainforest in Ghana has experienced rapid depletion since the 1980s. The impact of deforestation is widespread, affecting the livelihoods of local people and disrupting the tropical ecosystem. There is a serious concern in the study area about climatic change, soil erosion, siltation of rivers and loss in biodiversity which have an adverse impact on traditional medicinal plants of the local people. The study examined the extent of land cover change through image differencing of Landsat TM 1986 and 2002. The image classification indicated that, vegetative cover from 1986 to 2002 has been reducing whiles land use activities have been increasing. Closed canopy, open canopy and plantation have significantly diminished and land use activities especially built ups, farms, mining and openfields are more than doubled. The driving forces for the change in land cover are population growth, lumbering, socio-economic and cultural practices of the people. Lumbering and mining have been some of the major causes of the changing landscape in primary forest. Also the reliance on wood for domestic energy and the need to increase food productivity to feed growing population have also contributed greatly to the rapid depletion of the vegetative cover.  相似文献   

Hydrogeochemical evaluation of groundwater in the lower Offin basin,Ghana   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

Benony K. Kortatsi  Collins K. Tay  Geophrey Anornu  Ebenezer Hayford  Grace A. Dartey 《Environmental Geology》2008,53(8):1651-1662

Alumino-silicate mineral dissolution, cation exchange, reductive dissolution of hematite and goethite, oxidation of pyrite and arsenopyrite are processes that influence groundwater quality in the Offin Basin. The main aim of this study was to characterise groundwater and delineate relevant water–rock interactions that control the evolution of water quality in Offin Basin, a major gold mining area in Ghana. Boreholes, dug wells, springs and mine drainage samples were analysed for major ions, minor and trace elements. Major ion study results show that the groundwater is, principally, Ca–Mg–HCO₃ or Na–Mg–Ca–HCO₃ in character, mildly acidic and low in conductivity. Groundwater acidification is principally due to natural biogeochemical processes. Though acidic, the groundwater has positive acid neutralising potential provided by the dissolution of alumino-silicates and mafic rocks. Trace elements’ loading (except arsenic and iron) of groundwater is generally low. Reductive dissolution of iron minerals in the presence of organic matter is responsible for high-iron concentration in areas underlain by granitoids. Elsewhere pyrite and arsenopyrite oxidation is the plausible process for iron and arsenic mobilisation. Approximately 19 and 46% of the boreholes have arsenic and iron concentrations exceeding the WHO’s (Guidelines for drinking water quality. Final task group meeting. WHO Press, World Health Organization, Geneva, 2004) maximum acceptable limits of 10 μg l⁻¹ and 0.3 mg l⁻¹, for drinking water.  相似文献   

Urban agriculture and political ecology of health in municipal Ashaiman,Ghana     

《Geoforum》2016

This paper examines the multiple processes that shape the use of agrochemicals and wastewater irrigation in Ghanaian urban agriculture. It further explores whether and how these processes present bodily health challenges for women and men farmers. Qualitative fieldwork was conducted in Ashaiman, a municipal area located about 30 km north-east of Accra, Ghana’s capital. Methods of data collection involved in-depth interviews, focus groups and participatory risk ranking and scoring. Conceptually, the paper brings political ecologies of health into closer conversation with scholarship on embodiment and gender. Overall, the findings demonstrate how specific urban agricultural practices are socially produced, how these practices come to affect the human body, and the long-term gendered consequences. One of the contributions of the paper is to draw attention to the nature and cost of urban agriculture in Ghana, a cost not in financial or environmental sense, but in the realm of embodied experiences of exposure to agrochemicals. The paper argues that the current problem confronting urban agriculture in Ashaiman, Ghana, cannot be adequately addressed unless understood as socially produced and historically determined. Further, the health impact of urban agriculture is not only a full bodily experience, but is also gendered. In the end, a case is made as to why gendered bodies demand more critical analysis in scholarship involving political ecologies of health.  相似文献   

It's not all about wealth and beauty: Changing perceptions of fatness among Makola market women of Accra,Ghana          下载免费PDF全文

Charlotte Wrigley‐Asante  Samuel Agyei‐Mensah  Faustina Adomaa Obeng 《Singapore journal of tropical geography》2017,38(3):414-428

Within the African context, body shape preferences may be influenced by culture without necessarily taking into consideration health implications. Thus, fatness is culturally associated with beauty, prosperity, and prestige while thinness is perceived as a sign of ill‐health or poverty. Using a cross section of Makola market women, who traditionally are perceived as fat and affluent, our findings revealed that the perception of fatness as a sign of richness and beauty is changing due to women's access to knowledge and information on the health implications of fatness. The challenge for these women however, is adhering to healthy lifestyles despite living sedentary lives in the market place which is a conducive environment for one to become fat. We recommend that qualified professionals should encourage these women through continuous programmes on regenerative health and nutrition aimed at healthy lifestyle behaviour at the market places. The social groups that women belong to should be targeted, trained and equipped with the right information on healthy living so that they can disseminate this information to other members of their networks.  相似文献   

热带雨林景观土壤测量采样深度与样品粒级试验研究——以加纳国雅卡锰金矿为例     

丁兆举 《地质与勘探》2021,57(3):554-562

加纳国雅卡锰金矿床位于著名的阿散蒂金矿带上。在该成矿带进行土壤测量采样深度、样品粒级试验以及方法技术的适应性和有效性研究,可为下一步开展大面积土壤地球化学测量提供技术依据,从而圈定可靠土壤地球化学异常。本文采用的工作方法为土壤垂向剖面法,选择有代表性的地段进行试验研究,结果显示在已知矿上方获得了明显的土壤地球化学异常。通过实验研究,选取土壤测量采样深度60～80 cm,截取样品粒级-4～+20目,获得了可靠、明显的土壤地球化学异常。研究证明该方法具有显著的地球化学找矿效果。  相似文献   

Humanitarian assistance to refugees in rural Ghana: Implications for refugee–host relations     

《Norsk geografisk tidsskrift. Norwegian journal of geography》2012,66(2):75-82

In the face of protracted refugee situations worldwide, peaceful co-existence with host populations is necessary to ensure a meaningful life for refugees. Refugees need assistance to survive, especially in the emergency phase of their arrival in host communities. However, establishing refugee camps in predominantly rural communities with poor living conditions questions the type of assistance that should be offered in order to avoid resentment from rural hosts. The article explores the implications of humanitarian assistance to refugees in Krisan Refugee Camp in Ghana for refugee–host relations. Where assistance to refugees is perceived to be above average living conditions in the host communities, there is likely to be resentment among hosts. This may create antagonism between refugees and hosts, thereby jeopardising peaceful co-existence. It is concluded that assistance should also take the needs of local populations into consideration in order to create a congenial atmosphere for co-existence.  相似文献   

Moving young lives: Mobility, immobility and inter-generational tensions in urban Africa     

Gina Porter  Kate Hampshire 《Geoforum》2010,41(5):796-331

This paper explores young people’s experiences and perceptions of mobility and mobility constraints in poorer urban areas of Ghana, Malawi and South Africa within the specific context of inter-generational relations. Drawing principally on qualitative research findings from a study involving both adult and child researchers, our aim is to chart the diversities and commonalities of urban young people’s mobility experiences in the everyday - how they use and experience the city - developing a comparative perspective across three urban study sites which links young people’s mobility with the power relations that operate to shape their movements in individual locations. In particular, we consider how positive and negative images of young people’s mobility play out in terms of the inter-generational frictions and negotiations generated by their mobility performances. We also reflect on the developmental implications, in terms of young people’s access to services and income and their participation in the social networks and peer culture which may shape their life trajectories. Three themes are explored in detail: mobility as challenge, mobility as temptation and mobility control.  相似文献   

Spatial Integration,Adjustment, and Structural Transformation in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Some Linkage Pattern Changes in Ghana     

J. Henry Owusu 《The Professional geographer》2001,53(2):230-247

In 1983, Ghana embarked on a program of structural adjustment under the auspices of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, to resuscitate the economy and to foster development. This paper utilizes the Lagos Plan of Action, a comprehensive, continent‐wide effort and African‐led policy strategy for the economic development of the African continent, to examine the contribution of adjustment to the development of an integrated economy in Ghana. Adjustment is examined as a form of structural transformation, as evidenced by the emergent intranational (intra‐ and inter‐sectoral) and international linkages in the formal wood processing industry, a key sector with tremendous potential for such linkages. Intranationally, this study shows that, as in the pre‐adjustment years, inter‐sectoral linkages, although important, were not dynamic enough to play a significantly galvanizing role in the nation's economic development. However, intra‐sectorally, a dramatic expansion in lumber exports led to an unprecedented constriction in the traditional forward linkage between sawmills and downstream processors. This forced the latter to depend on the informal sector for inputs. Internationally, Ghanaian firms operated as subcontractors of convenience for firms overseas (particularly in Europe) via an expanded forward linkage, reflecting a new “colonial relationship” under the program.  相似文献   

The impact of small-scale wood harvesting on neem Azadirachta indica A. Juss stands in the coastal savanna of Ghana     

Michael O'Neal Campbell 《Area》2005,37(1):8-16

Although the introduced neem tree Azadirachta indica A. Juss is a very important energy source in the coastal savanna of Ghana, the sustainability of small-scale wood harvesting (SSWH) has not been investigated with regard to this species. This paper assesses the sustainability of SSWH on neem stands in the coastal savanna, using a socio-economic and ecological survey. The results show that SSWH, incorporating coppicing, stand tolerance, balanced with total bole cutting and root removal, and based on socio-cultural supports, has created a modified yet sustainable system of SSWH. It is concluded that these systems may contribute to tree stand conservation.  相似文献