Accra, Ghana//-A majority of Ghanaians want the government to regulate natural resource extraction such as mining, oil drilling, and wood harvesting more tightly to reduce its negative impacts on the environment, the latest Afrobarometer survey shows.
Citizens are evenly divided in their views on whether local communities receive a fair share of revenues from nearby natural resource extraction activities, and fewer than half think that the benefits of natural resource extraction outweigh its costs, such as pollution. Only about half of Ghanaians say ordinary citizens have a voice in decisions about natural resource extraction that takes place near their communities.
Key findings
▪ Most Ghanaians (85%) want the government to regulate natural resource extraction more tightly in order to reduce its negative impacts on the environment.
▪ Fewer than half (46%) of citizens think local communities receive a fair share of revenues from natural resource extraction; just as many (46%) think they don’t. o And only 39% say the benefits of natural resource extraction, such as jobs and revenue, outweigh negative impacts such as pollution.
▪ Half (51%) of Ghanaians “agree” or “strongly agree” that ordinary citizens have a voice in decisions about natural resource extraction near their communities, while 40% disagree.
Afrobarometer surveys
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan survey research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life. Eight survey rounds in up to 39 countries have been completed since 1999. Round 9 surveys (2021/2022) are currently underway.
Afrobarometer’s national partners conduct face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice. The Afrobarometer team in Ghana, led by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, interviewed a nationally representative sample of 2,369 adult Ghanaians in April 2022.
A sample of this size yields country-level results with a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Previous surveys were conducted in Ghana in 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2017, and 2019.
