Drivers and drags of speculative land developments in a prospective mining landscape, Ghana

This study investigated the drivers and trends of land developments in Newmont Ahafo North Project area. We analysed Landsat imagery to determine land use and cover changes from 1990 to 2021, utilizing a supervised classification method and data from a sample of 200 stakeholders through structured interviews in five project communities. The interrelation of factors influencing land developments in the area was examined using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) model. The results demonstrated a substantial decline in cropland and bareland from 45 % and 38 % to 17 % and 21 %, respectively, with corresponding increases in the built-up and vegetation covers over the period. The pending mining project induced significant speculative developments affecting agriculture and native vegetation. Long mineral exploration, unemployment and poverty, non-compliance and enforcement of mining laws, inadequate compensation, and the compensation experience of farmers drove speculative developments in the mining landscape. The mines declared a mining area without prompt compensation and economically constrained poor locals. This generated contention between the mine and the affected community, culminating in costly expenditure and frustration of the project's timelines. The study underscores the need to rigorously enforce the mining land access legislation and review provisions and application of mining laws on speculative development to curb contestations.