When the Rivers Heal: Child Welfare and Ghana’s Anti Galamsey Fight
Illegal small-scale mining, known as 'galamsey,' is causing severe environmental and public health crises in Ghana, particularly affecting children in mining communities. Despite various government initiatives, the pollution of water bodies with toxic metals remains a critical human security issue.
Why it matters
The crisis highlights the tension between informal economic survival and the long-term health and environmental sustainability of vulnerable populations.
In Ghana, illegal mining is commonly known as “galamsey,” derived from the phrase “gather them and sell.” It is an informal and unregulated small-scale mining activity that provides alternative economic opportunities and immediate income to many Ghanaians. The sector also contributes to the development of Ghana’s mineral wealth.
Yet galamsey also has provoked a crisis with dire public health consequences for the country’s mining communities. Its effects take an especially terrible human toll on the children living close to this activity.
Galamsey has polluted about 60% of Ghana’s vital water bodies with heavy toxic metals such as mercury and chemicals like lead and cyanide , including the Pra, Ankobra, and Brim rivers. People who live in mining communities struggle to access clean water, leaving them compelled to drink contaminated water that increases the incidence of diarrheal diseases and other waterborne infections .
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