Boom And Dislocation

Suggests to re-examine the legal regimes that have fostered the renewed rush, the guidelines on environmental protection, and the support of mining support organisations. Concentrates on gold mining in Tarkwa and its neighbouring villages.

This book explores how African countries can convert their natural resources, particularly oil and gas, into sustainable development assets. Using Ghana, one of the continent’s newest oil-producing countries, as a lens, it examines the "resource curse" faced by other producers - such as Nigeria, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea - and demonstrates how mismanagement in those countries can provide valuable lessons for new oil producers in Africa and elsewhere. Relying on a broad range of fieldwork and policymaking experience, Panford suggests practical measures for resource-rich developing countries to transform natural resources into valuable assets that can help create jobs, boost human resources, and improve living and working conditions in Ghana in particular. He suggests fiscal, legal, and environmental antidotes to resource mismanagement, which he identifies as the major obstacle to socioeconomic development in countries that have historically relied on natural resources.

The book explores the debates surrounding sustainable livelihood in the neoliberal era effected through transformation of the nature of work and the role of institutions, particularly in the Global South. By creating gainful work and employment opportunities through formal and informal institutions using progressive instruments and innovations within rural and urban economies, livelihood becomes ‘sustainable’, thereby reducing inequality and increasing resilience among households. Based on both theoretical and empirical studies from Asia and Africa, the book establishes the relationship between three broad concepts – work, institutions and sustainable development. The content has been divided into three broad sections: Rural Economy and Its Transformations; Urbanisation and Sustainable Livelihood; and Innovations and Instruments of Transformation. This book is a valuable resource for scholars of development studies, rural and urban studies, labour studies besides economics, sociology, political science and policymaking.

"As a foundation for this book use has been made of the author's treatise on Krise and Konjunktur. Large parts have been translated, with many alterations, from the German ... while other parts written in English by the author have been added"--Pref. Includes bibliographical references.