Galamsey, the illegal artisanal mining of gold, has made drinkable water so scarce in Ghana that experts estimate that the country will have to import drinkable water by 2030. COP 29 and beyond presents an opportunity for Ghana and the rest of Africa to strategically address the Galamsey situation at the international level, especially since there are obvious foreign interests fuelling the crisis. It is regrettable that there has been little or no mention of Galamsey in the previous COPs and in conversations leading up to the forthcoming COP 29.
Mining in Ghana
Galamsey emerged after European takeover of mining operations in Ghana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Prior to this commercialisation and establishment of large, industrialised mines, indigenous mining was the only form of gold mining in Ghana. Indigenous mining was not a process that did violence to the earth. Gold was obtained from “streams and rivers in the rain forest and in coastal sands.” Other mining methods included young men diving deep into rivers and stream with calabashes and digging up the earth which they washed in the surface to isolate the gold. Gold mining was conducted with the digging hoe while river gold dredgers used a shovel to dig out sand. Essentially, mining was a similar exercise to cultivating the ground for food and many farmers used mining to supplement family income.
Origin of Galamsey
With the advent of colonialism in Ghana in the late 19th century, mining ceased to be an environmentally friendly and community rewarding exercise. European mining interests flooded the Gold Coast, as it was known then, armed with chemicals, sand blasters etc. and hopes of becoming billionaires. This high capital, machinery and technology intensive form of mining began to tear the earth and communities apart. Farmers had to abandon farming to be employed to work fulltime for the mining companies, which paid unsustainable wages. Few African miners could compete and by 1930s, there was not a single African miner in the gold rich Akyem Abuakwa, for instance.
In addition, colonialism actively criminalised indigenous mining to ensure that Europeans gold miners were solely in charge of the nation’s mining interests. By the 1940s, indigenous pit-mining was all but non-existent in certain parts of the Gold Coast, leaving only intermittent washing of gold in riverbeds, engaged in as a leisurely past-time by women and elders in communities.
Due to poor pay and a cultural and social aversion to working in underground European commercial mining concerns, many Ghanaians who previously worked with these mining concerns left to establish their own variant of artisanal mining. These mines were no longer the dignity-affirming, community-strengthening, and environmentally-protective indigenous mining efforts known to Ghana for centuries. Artisanal mining, using explosives and chemicals such as mercury and cyanide that are harmful to people and the environment, became the new normal. It is this hybrid that is today known as Galamsey.
Impact of Galamsey
The influx of Chinese illegal miners in the early 2000s in Ghana exacerbated the environmental challenges posed by Galamsey. Chinese illegal miners imported even more sophisticated mining explosives and harsh chemicals, and displaced thousands of Ghanaian miners who, left with no option, now work for these Chinese mines. There are tens of thousands of such mines in Ghana.
As a result of the methods used in illegal mining in Ghana, the country is going through an environmental crisis. Forests are being destroyed, depriving Ghanaians of a place to store carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. Forest-based livelihoods, such as pharmaceuticals, meat, energy, and others are being lost at an exponential rate. Ghana’s water body is becoming increasingly toxic, filled with mercury, cyanide and explosives by-products, making it unfit for human or animal consumption or even farming. Water in Ghana is muddy and cannot be used to irrigate cocoa trees. Cocoa farmers who previously relied on water from streams and rivers now have to buy water and transport it to their farmlands on a regular basis. According to Ghana’s National Food Buffer Stock Company Limited (NAFCO), responsible for food security reserves, Galamsey activities have harmed more than 19,000 hectares (46,950 acres) of cocoa plantations in the country.
The pollution of Ghana’s waters is not restricted only to places where mining occurs. Pollution is carried downstream across the country and will soon extend to other parts of West Africa and beyond with connections to Ghana’s water bodies. WaterAid refers to this situation as an ecocide, for which immediate action must be taken,
COP 29 and the Galamsey War
Although the government of Ghana has repeatedly declared war against Galamsey, there seems to be no policy action in line with these declarations. Several civil society organisations in Ghana held public demonstrations and even went on an industrial action in September 2024 to make it clear that the current administration has not lived up to the promise of fighting Galamsey.
Galamsey continues to threaten the lives and livelihoods of Ghanaians and Africans, but this issue is not featured in key meetings leading up to COP 29. At the recent stakeholder in Abidjan between the African Development Bank, the African Union Commission (AUC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), and the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) to “align Africa’s climate action priorities ahead of the COP29 conference,” the Galamsey challenge did not feature. Similarly, the Galamsey crisis was not on the agenda of the African Environment Ministers meeting in Abidjan in September.
Instead, much of the attention in the preparation for COP 29 focuses on climate financing. “A key priority for African countries at the UN Cop 29 climate talks in Baku next month is to secure a new climate finance goal.” The “regional alliance the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) is seeking a climate finance commitment from developed countries of $1.3 trillion/yr by 2030.”
While there is definitely a need for climate financing on Africa’s agenda, there are many environmental issues in Africa, such as the Galamsey, for which needed action transcends monetary considerations and rests squarely on the political will to act on the part of governments and the concomitant and appropriate action of informed and vigilant citizens.
COP 29 is just one of many global platforms where African countries allow the West to dominate the discourse and shape agendas that do not necessarily reflect the continent’s unique realities or aspirations. This dynamic is rooted in historical imbalances, where colonial legacies continue to reverberate in the corridors of power, influencing how issues are framed and prioritised. As a result, crucial discussions on economics, policy, governance and climate change often unfold within a Western narrative, sidelining truly pressing local challenges, indigenous perspectives and solutions. To reclaim agency, African nations must not only amplify their voices, but also cultivate a robust network of solidarity to ensure that their own narratives drive the conversations that squarely impact the continent.
Human and environmentally destructive practice of Galamsey emerged in Ghana during colonialism. It has now been exacerbated by the activities of thousands of Chinese migrants across the country. The government of Ghana and other African countries need to stand in solidarity and escalate this challenge at the international level. COP 29 presents a grand opportunity for this.
