Illegal mining in Africa can be traced back to governments and politicians, not just the miners themselves, according to Vanguard.
In a report shared at the 5th West African Mining Host Communities Indaba, the executive director of Global Rights Nigeria, Abiodun Baiyewu, explained that many illegal mining operations in Africa are as successful as they are because people in power turn a blind eye or even tacitly support them.
Robert Tanti Ali, the executive director of the Center for Social Impact Studies in Ghana, said, per Vanguard: "It is clear that across the continent, we have a similar challenge; even in West Africa, we have a similar challenge."
As the BBC has explained, these illegal mining operations can have devastating consequences for the areas around them. They pollute rivers and other bodies of water and leak toxic chemicals into the soil, to the point that people in some countries have organized protests to try to restore their land and water quality to what it used to be. All of this contributes to the ways the climate is changing on our watch.
When the climate changes, it makes life harder for a lot of species, including humans, as the United Nations explained. Habitats get destroyed and diseases spread, making survival questionable for many plants, animals, and people.
The illegal trade in mined substances and other substances negatively affects the environment, too. A wide variety of industries contribute to climate problems, and mining is just one of them. If you want to work for change, consider educating yourself on the industries affecting your area, then find others to join you and take local action. When enough people fight back, governments notice, and that's when change can happen.
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Ali noted that having the right governmental policies in place can help, per Vanguard: "We need to come together and identify the common themes around the issues, and then design a guideline which we have to be more dedicated to it because all the issues raised … about artisanal mining."
Voting for politicians who care about the climate is one way to get policies like these in place.
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