Forecasting the Potential Economic Impact of Ecological Restoration of Illegal Mines on Employment and Household Income in Ghana

Abstract

Ghana has a long-standing problem of illegal mining that has destroyed the environment. The country is taking steps to curb illegal mining and restore disturbed lands. The research used a social economic impact assessment in terms of outputs of a project to estimate the number of employments to be created and household income produced for communities where ecological restoration takes place. The research collected secondary data on the cost and number of individuals employed for a 1-hectare ecological restoration projects from 5 sites in AGA Obuasi mines, AGA Iduapriem mines and Newmont Ghana Gold Limited. The average number of employed individuals was 27 and average income earned associated with these projects was $2,508. From the research, projections made to meet the country’s target of restoring 23,800,000 hectares were 652,000,000 jobs and $48,984,000,000 in income. Thus, ecological restoration can boost the economy of the country, especially local economies and at the same time increase the country’s ecological integrity.

Keywords: Ecological restoration, illegal mining, job creation, Household income, local economy

DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-22-07

Publication date: November 30^th 2020