Study 3: Ecodestruction and the Right to Food: The Cases of Water ...

Starving the Future Study 3
Ecological Impact
Ghana´s gold exploitation has shifted from underground to surface mining during the past eight years.
This is regardless of the destruction of huge areas of land, and the resulting loss of agricultural
activities, in these regions. Ghana´s environment is adversely affected by careless handling of the
mining sites and its operations. Several spillages are reported where cyanide polluted rivers and nearby
farms. High suspended sediment concentrations render water supply for villages unfit for drinking and
other domestic purposes. The fish population is highly polluted and diminishing in the concerned areas.
Furthermore, arsenic trioxide is discharged into the atmosphere which damages crops and causes eye
problems among residents. They have to inhale the dust as well.
Cyanide Spillage in the Western Region of Ghana
In October 2001, FIAN has been informed about a recent cyanide spillage in the Western Region of
Ghana. The dimension of the accident cannot be estimated at the moment. Water from the nearby
streams is polluted and fish and other animals have been found dead. Many villages in the surrounding
area of the spillage are lacking clean and safe drinking water. Some villagers have taken water for
consumption from the polluted streams without knowing of the accident and are complaining about
stomach problems, now. FIAN-Ghana reports:
"A major disaster has hit a number of villages in the Wassa West District of Ghana's western region,
this follows the spillage of thousands of cubic metres of wastewater, contaminated with cyanide and
heavy metals, into the river Asuman last Tuesday 16th Oct, when a tailings dam at a mine operation
owned by the South African company, GOLDFIELDS Ltd. ruptured.
In what observers consider as the country's worst environmental disaster, hundreds of dead fish, crabs
and birds can be seen littering the banks of the river while others floated on the water which is the only
source of drinking water for Abekoase, Huni and surrounding villages.
Virtually all life forms in the river and its tributaries including plants have been decimated and people's
livelihoods endangered. Now scientists fear the cyanide and heavy metal residue from the spill could
remain for decades thus posing serious health and environmental threat to the people in the area and
surrounding towns.
With a fragile ecology comprising a greater chunk of the country's remaining tropical rain forests and its
complex biological diversity and a network of rivers that meander through a chain of scarps within the
mining concessions, the Wassa West district of Ghana's Western region remains the most impacted by
mining activities and the most vulnerable to surface and groundwater pollution. Sulphur fumes and
mercury contamination from both small and large scale mining activities also pose a real threat..
Over the years mining activities in the Wassa West District have generated tremendous social conflicts
arising mainly from land use conflicts, unfair compensation schemes for displaced communities and
tremendous environmental degradation.
Surface mining in particular and its associated clearing of vast stretches of land has already decimated
large tracts of the country's remaining tropical rain forests which can be found in the area. A number of
rivers and streams are also known to have dried up in the area and protected species such as the Red
river hog, the roan antelope, the Red Colobus Monkey and the Black and White Colobus Monkey and
some medicinal plants are believed to have been swept into oblivion by surface mining.
After heavy rains in June 1997 cyanide spilled from the Teberebie goldmine into river Angonaben (in the
same district) killing fish and destroying vast stretches of farmland. Leg injuries were caused to villagers
wading through the water, nine villages were left without drinking water and as usual no compensation
was paid to the villagers.
FIAN International 124
June 2002