CHina’s Quest For Resources In Africa And Its Implications For Environmental Security: The Case Of Ghana

ABSTRACT This study focuses essentially on analyzing China’s quest for natural resources in Africa and its implications for Ghana’s environmental security. It focuses on the extent to which best practices are being pursued by China in its exploitation of Ghana’s resources. The study is purely qualitative and relies both on primary and secondary data for analysis. The primary data was obtained through interviews from key informants who have in-depth knowledge about the topic under study, whereas primary data was obtained through literature review from sources such as books, newspapers, journal articles and internet sources. Major findings from the study reveal that China’s interest in Ghana’s natural resources have contributed to the environmental security challenges confronting her, especially with respect to natural resource exploitation by the Chinese in Ghana. Paramount among such environmental security threats include water pollution, deforestation, air pollution, sound pollution or noise and land degradation. The study also reveals that Ghana, to a very large extent, has achieved some successes in ensuring that best practices are pursued by China in her quest for Ghana’s natural resources as some Chinese engaged in illegal natural resource extraction in Ghana are arrested and deported. This sends a strong signal to the Chinese Government that Ghana is every intention of preserving its sovereignty in spite of the cordial bilateral relations between Ghana and China and the ever deepening economic cooperation between them. However, some few challenges confront Ghana in addressing environmental security challenges due to China’s exploitation of Ghana’s natural resources. Paramount among them include financial constraints, insufficient technical and expertise personnel, ineffective/poor collaboration sometimes between the GAF and GPS due to unnecessary competition and politics, corruption, difficulty in obtaining reliable information and economic hardship and insufficient job opportunities in the country. The study, therefore, concludes that all stakeholders need to be guided by international and national environmental laws to remain focus and proactive in the fight against the environmental security menace created especially by some Chinese in Ghana. Therefore, there should be proper coordination and dialogue at all levels for a formidable action towards curbing the natural resource exploitation by some Chinese in Ghana. It is therefore recommended that the government must take a bold step in the fight against corruption and should not interfere with the work of the Judicial systems so that culprits of natural resource exploitation, especially foreigners such as the Chinese who may be found guilty will be sanctioned accordingly, to serve as a deterrent to others.