Artisanal gold mining and mercury contamination of surface water as a wicked socio-environmental problem: a sustainability challenge?

Abstract

In this paper, artisanal gold mining (ASM) and its associated mercury pollution of surface water in West Africa is characterized as a complex (wicked) problem in which stakeholders have conflicting interpretations of the problem and the science behind it, as well as different values, goals, and life experiences. Using fieldwork in 5 west African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali and Senegal), the paper argues that the multiple framings of ASM as a human health, environmental, socio-economic, man-made hazard, technological, political, and policy issue by various actors and the overlap of these framings underscore the complexity and seemingly intractable nature of the problem. For that reason, policy makers, public policy professionals, and other stakeholders who tackle this ASM and mercury pollution must go beyond conventional expert and technical knowledge in order to effectively resolve it. In particular, effective solution may necessarily require holistic, not partial or linear thinking, innovative and flexible approaches, the ability to work across agency boundaries, increasing understanding and stimulating debates on the application of the accountability framework, effectively engaging stakeholders and citizens in understanding the problem and in identifying possible solutions, a better understanding of behavioral change by policy makers, and tolerating uncertainty and accepting the need for a long-term focus