Environmental and Socio-economic Impacts of Sand Mining in Selected Coastal Communities along the Western Rural-Freetown Peninsular in Sierra Leone

This study examines the environmental and socio-economic impacts of sand mining in three selected coastal communities (Hamilton, John Obey and Laka) along the Western Area Rural-Freetown peninsula in Sierra Leone. Coastal sand mining poses significant environmental and social problems. It damages ecosystems, increases coastal erosion and vulnerability to storms, threatens biodiversity, and can lead to social issues like corruption and violence. The study employed a quantitative cross-sectional perception survey-based research design. A simple random sampling technique was used to representatively select 666 community respondents including heads of households, community leaders, sand miners, sellers, and transporters. A combination of Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) and Excel Software Package were employed. A multinomial logistic regression (MNL) model was used to analyse the data. Findings reveal that the determinants of respondents’ perceived knowledge on the negative impacts of sand mining were mainly demographic attributes including age (p<0.001), marital status (p<0.001), family size (p<0.001), and monthly household income (p<0.001). The findings further revealed that accident (p<0.001), community conflicts (p<0.001), drug abuse (p<0.001), and knowledge of negative effects of sand mining (p<0.001), exhibited a negative significant impact of sand mining. The determinants of respondents’ perceived knowledge on the positive impacts of sand mining indicated that occupation has a positive and significant impact on sand mining. The benefits of utilizing sand in the communities (p<0.001) and benefits of sand mining (p<0.001) had a negative significant impact on sand mining. It is recommended that increased awareness on the negative impacts of coastal sand mining coupled with the implementation of environmental policies could help to mitigate some of the negative environmental impacts.