“Islands of Prosperity” in the Sea of Poverty: A Critical Reflection on the Peripheral Mineral Sector in Ethiopia

Abstract

Artisanal and Small-scale Mining has been a rampant phenomenon as an economic activity across the world. This activity has also continued to alarmingly increase particularly in developing counties because of poverty and globalization.  Being a strong predictor of large-scale mining or gold rush at any rate poor resource management lies at the center of this nomadic economic sector. Human security problems are also among the adverse effects across all mineral “resource blessed” countries which sooner becomes “resource curse”.  This paper focuses on the cause-effect patterns and searches for remedies in the context of resource lootability, poor resource governance, and absence of policy intervention. It views the transformational dilemma in lieu of local livelihood variables as issues of opportunity or necessity strongly linked into the “context matters thesis”. And finally suggests alternative points of entry. So far, there exist little or no studies on the sector mainly because it has gained little or no policy attention in Ethiopia. Yet a few available findings indicate that the sector is primitive, excluded in periphery, inefficient, conflict and insecurity-ridden, occupied by ever broadening hostile actors. It is mediated by necessity, seldom materializing opportunity, steep market demand, and legal and institutional loopholes. The motivation of this paper is therefore to analyze the existing problem in the context of the nature of the sector itself, the characteristics of the mining practice and miners involved, and the state policy and legal machinery which are absent.

Keywords: Periphery, Lootable Mineral, ASM, Human Security, Policy Attention, Miners, Affected Community, Market Price.