From Cocoa to Crisis: Illegal Mining, Climate Change, and the Collapse of Food Security in Ghana – Policy Pathways to Safeguard Women Producers and Vulnerable Communities

Illegal small-scale gold mining (galamsey) has evolved as one of Ghana's most urgent environmental, economic, and governance crises. This article examines the intersection between galamsey, climate change, and food security, with specific reference to its distributive impacts being grossly unequal on women farmers and other marginalised stakeholders. Through application of secondary sources from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Bank, Ghana Environmental Protection Agency, as well as academic research, this paper undertakes policy analysis to engage in discussion in regard to the causes, impacts, as well as solutions to the macro level impacts from galamsey. The article identifies that the latter has lost over 2 million hectares worth of forest since 1990, polluted between 60–70% of inland aquatic bodies, as well as reduced cocoa production to as low as 40% in the most mined districts. Female farmers who form the backbone of Ghana's subsistence food production sector are disproportionately affected by these issues including, evictions from land, reduction in crop output, as well as heightened health risks in regard to the poisoning from mercury. The paper recommends multi-sectorial interventions with immediate effect encompassing environmental enforcement, restoration of the land as well as clean up in the water bodies, gender-responsive livelihood projects, and diversification in the national economy. The essay concludes by placing Ghana's galamsey crisis in broader African resource management discourse, citing that tackling illicit mining is integral in achieving climate resilience, gender equity, as well as national food security.