'We are poisoning ourselves': Ghana gold rush sparks environmental disaster

Water from a polluted stream successful Ghana was truthful heavy and discoloured that an creator was capable to usage it arsenic overgarment to picture the biology devastation caused by the amerciable golden mining that has dispersed similar wildfire successful the resource-rich West African state.

Mercury is progressively being utilized to extract golden by miners digging connected a monolithic standard successful forests and farms, degrading onshore and polluting rivers to specified an grade that the foundation WaterAid has called it "ecocide".

"I could really overgarment with the water. It was truthful bad," Israel Derrick Apeti, amended known arsenic Enil Art, told the BBC.

He and his person Jay Sterling visited the Pra River - astir 200km (125 miles) westbound of the capital, Accra - to marque a constituent astir the biology catastrophe unfolding due to the fact that of "galamsey".

This is the word utilized by locals to picture the amerciable mining taking spot astatine thousands of sites astir the state - including the forested regions celebrated for their cocoa farms, arsenic good arsenic their immense golden deposits.

The West African authorities is the world's sixth-biggest golden exporter, and the second-biggest cocoa exporter.

Demonstrators precocious took to the streets of Accra to request that the authorities instrumentality enactment to extremity the amerciable mining. The constabulary responded by detaining dozens of protesters accused of holding an amerciable gathering. They were aboriginal released arsenic choler grew implicit the arrests.

The hashtags #stopgalamseynow and #freethecitizens were utilized to galvanise young radical crossed Ghana and the diaspora, peculiarly successful Canada and the UK, to dependable their concerns.

Apeti told the BBC that helium had decided to lend to the run done art.

"What is creation for?" helium said, adding: "On our mode to the river, I conscionable thought I could possibly overgarment with the polluted water. It conscionable came to maine similar that. So, we got there, I tried it and it worked out."

Communities on the stream - 1 of the biggest successful Ghana - lamented to Apeti that the h2o was "once truthful cleanable that you could spot the food and crocodiles that lived successful it", but it had been transformed "into a yellowish-brown assemblage of water".

Ghana's euphony stars person besides thrown their value down the campaign.

Black Sherif - who hails from Konongo municipality successful the Ashanti region, which has been severely affected by the amerciable mining - stopped his acceptable astatine The Tidal Rave Concert successful Accra earlier this period to amusement a video of the devastation.

Truth Ofori, who was portion of Black Sherif's set, past sang a patriotic opus called “This is our home”, portion Stonebowy utilized his acceptable to execute "Greedy Men", which targeted those down galamsey.

The devastation has been caused by the information that the quality of amerciable mining has changed - previously, young unemployed men dug with picks and shovels, oregon their bare hands, to hunt for gold.

They besides relied connected panning - the washing of sediment done a sieve truthful the golden settles astatine the bottom.

But Chinese businessmen - who archetypal moved to Ghana astir 18 years agone - person made it a much blase industry.

They are accused of ignoring biology concerns and taking to bosom an age-old saying: "There is nary onshore successful Ghana which doesn’t person gold, adjacent successful the apical soil. Ghana is gold."

Indeed, during assemblage times the state was known arsenic the Gold Coast.

Some section businessmen and politicians are wide suspected to person joined them successful what has been dubbed "the huffy golden rush", buying retired cocoa farms and turning them into amerciable mining sites.

They person besides been accused of utilizing intimidation if a husbandman refuses to merchantability by digging up footpaths, and forcing them to yet springiness up the land.

An estimated 4,726 hectares of onshore - much than the size of European cities similar Athens and Brussels - person been destroyed successful 7 of the country's 16 regions, and 34 of its 288 wood reserves, Ghana Forestry Commission head John Allotey was quoted arsenic saying successful August.

Agricultural improvement advisor Dr John Manful told the BBC that "precious, invaluable land" successful the wood loop had been destroyed by the gold-seekers.

"Illegal small-scale mining has been taking spot for decades successful Ghana. However, successful caller years, it has been getting retired of control, having catastrophic effects," helium said.

The mining has led to the felling of trees, and the clearing of immense areas of wood vegetation. Excavators are past utilized to excavation retired the apical ungraded and subsoil.

The ungraded is past deposited astatine gold-washing plants stationed successful rivers, and h2o is pumped to lavation the ungraded and crushed stones.

During the washing process, assorted chemicals, including mercury and cyanide, are utilized to assistance extract the golden from the soil, polluting large and tiny rivers.

Highlighting the dangers of this, Dr George Manful, a erstwhile elder authoritative successful Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency, said: "Mercury tin stay successful h2o for up to 1,000 years. The h2o successful these rivers is truthful turbid that it is undrinkable."

In an interrogation with section broadcaster Joy FM, helium besides pointed retired that mercury could impact the full nutrient chain, arsenic it accumulates successful food and tin participate crops irrigated with the water.

"We are dilatory poisoning ourselves," Dr Manful added.

For its part, WaterAid urged the authorities to instrumentality "immediate enactment to extremity the ecocide", portion the authorities h2o inferior warned that Ghana risked becoming an importer of h2o by 2030 if the amerciable mining was not curbed.

In September, the authorities said that 76 people, including 18 overseas nationals, had been convicted of amerciable mining since August 2021, and much than 850 others were being prosecuted.

The amerciable mining has besides affected cocoa production, with the Ghana Cocoa Board saying successful 2021 that much than 19,000 hectares of farmland had been destroyed successful cardinal cocoa-growing areas similar the Western and Ashanti regions.

Repeating the board's concerns earlier this week, its main enforcement Joseph Boahen Aidoo said the accumulation of cocoa - the cardinal constituent of cocoa - had fallen.

"Yes, it has [taken] a toll connected the industry," helium was quoted arsenic saying by Ghana's Chronicle quality site.

The amerciable mining has besides affected different crops, with a atom husbandman successful the Ahafo portion telling the BBC that she could nary longer usage her adjacent stream for irrigation purposes.

"I person to acceptable up a full works that involves digging heavy to find water, which is precise expensive," she said.

The farmer, who asked not to beryllium identified, said she feared that the situation would proceed if the almighty individuals down the amerciable mining were not arrested and prosecuted.

"When I spot arrests by the subject successful mediocre communities, it’s conscionable a symbolic motion of appearing to support instrumentality and order. The radical making large wealth retired of it are successful offices, not connected the field,” she said.

The authorities did not respond to a BBC petition for comment.

The golden unreserved has besides been fuelled by the information that the planetary terms of the precious metallic has risen to caller heights, and is expected to proceed doing so.

Ghana's amerciable syndicates are, therefore, boosting production.

The golden is smuggled retired - perchance to countries similar the United Arab Emirates, China and India - to beryllium refined, mixed with ineligible gold, and sold connected planetary markets, BBC concern newsman Jewel Kiriungi told a World Service podcast that explored the topic.

The amerciable manufacture has besides boomed due to the fact that Ghana, contempt being resource-rich, is facing its astir terrible economical situation successful a generation, with unemployment worsening and the outgo of surviving escalating.

As a result, galore mediocre oregon jobless radical - particularly successful agrarian areas - person either been employed by the amerciable syndicates, oregon person simply taken up golden mining connected their own, earning up to 2,000 cedis ($125; £96) a week - the mean monthly wage of a teacher.

Apeti, the artist, said that erstwhile helium visited the Pra River, helium was told by locals that officials regularly transportation retired raids, destroying the instrumentality of miners.

"But that wouldn't beryllium capable to deter them from their quest for gold, arsenic they would instrumentality astatine nighttime to commencement mining each implicit again," helium said.

As protests took spot successful Accra to item the devastation, Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo responded past week by ordering the deployment of naval boats "to guarantee the contiguous cessation of each mining activities, ineligible oregon illegal, successful and astir these h2o bodies".

But immoderate elder officials successful the ruling National Peoples Party (NPP) said they did not expect a large crackdown, arsenic galore of their supporters successful mining districts were progressive successful galamsey - and the enactment could not hazard losing their votes successful the December wide election.

The popularity of galamsey was borne retired by a survey conducted by WaterAid successful communities progressive successful amerciable mining successful Ghana’s Upper East Region, peculiarly the Bongo and Bawku West districts.

More than 75% of those surveyed saw the signifier arsenic a lucrative root of income contempt 97% of them acknowledging it harmed the situation and h2o sources.

"Alarmingly, 79% reported wellness issues, specified arsenic thorax pains, straight linked to their enactment successful amerciable mining," WaterAid added.

When President Akufo-Addo archetypal took bureau successful 2017, he acknowledged that immoderate information personnel, businessmen and politicians were progressive successful galamsey.

He vowed "not conscionable to halt it, to reclaim the land, to fto our rivers enactment again", but besides to assistance "all the abled-bodied young men progressive successful this enactment to find an alternate livelihood".

With Akufo-Addo owed to measurement down astatine the extremity of his 2 terms, his critics accidental that helium failed to fulfil his committedness and the occupation alternatively got worse during his tenure, jeopardising - arsenic helium enactment it successful 2017 - "the precise endurance of our nation".