Assessment of legal framework for corporate environmental behavior and perceptions of residents in mining communities in Ghana

Abstract

The paper examines the laws and policies that regulate corporate environmental practices in Ghana, with an emphasis on mining. In particular, the analysis of the legal and regulatory framework examines the extent to which it meets international best practices and standards of corporate conduct and the extent to which self-regulatory mechanisms are accommodated under the framework. This was accomplished through reviews of mining and water related Acts, laws and relevant Statutes on corporate environmental practices in Ghana. Ethnographic qualitative research was carried out and key tools utilized included participant observations, focus group discussions and interviews. Interview data captured community members’ perceptions on impacts of mining in 12 host communities. Key findings indicate that most respondents have negative perceptions about the socio-economic and environmental impacts of mining and where corporate environmental governance codes exist, enforcement mechanisms are not very well laid out, a situation which reflects weak regulatory institutions in the mining sector. Further, the legal and regulatory regime for environmental governance has failed to come up to international best practices. While government has an important role to play in the area of providing the legal framework for enhancing best practice standards in corporate environmental governance, it appears that the ultimate responsibility for sound environmental behavior still lies with corporations themselves