From Environmental Conflict to Environmental Peacebuilding: The Case of Obuasi in Ghana

Benjamin Adjei

Advisor: Lester R. Kurtz, PhD, Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Committee Members: Ben Manski, Ted Hsuan Yun Chen

Online Location, Zoom
April 17, 2026, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Abstract:

Obuasi is a resource-rich municipality, so why do its residents continue to face environmental conflicts, resource degradation, and social insecurity? Available data usually attribute this crisis mainly to resource scarcity or population growth, but these explanations seem to overlook the complexities in Obuasi, which is highly endowed with natural and indigenous resources that could support conflict resolution.

This dissertation offers a case study of environmental conflict and peacebuilding in Obuasi. It argues that environmental conflict in the Obuasi Municipality is not caused by a lack of resources but by an abundance of resources and the interactions among different environmental perspectives, land tenure disparities, and government systems. Stakeholders such as farmers, mining companies, and chiefs are influenced by the significance of land through established social bonds and economic interests, which leads to persistent environmental resource conflicts. These issues are rooted in structural power imbalances, reinforced by ongoing intimidation practices aimed at silencing dissent. Although indigenous and traditional peacebuilding methods at the local level provide some internal social and cultural controls, they are limited by various political and economic forces that promote resource extraction.

My methods were rooted in what W.E.B. Du Bois describes as double consciousness, as I studied my own culture while applying frameworks from Western sociology and social sciences. An ethnographic study of Obuasi, using in-depth interviews and focus groups, was conducted to explore questions such as: Why have environmental conflicts and their associated forms of violence become so widespread in Obuasi, and what are their effects? What environmental peacebuilding strategies are local residents in Obuasi implementing to protect the environment and reduce social conflicts? How effective have these measures been, and what additional steps are needed to decrease social conflicts and environmental harm? 280 and 153 respondents were interviewed about environmental conflict and the land tenure system in Obuasi, respectively.

This dissertation identifies the mechanisms of environmental conflict in Obuasi as: Competing environmental frames; Hybrid land tenure institutions; Power asymmetries among local communities, chiefs, corporations, and the state; Normalization of coercion and fear; and Indigenous mediation mechanisms that stabilize but do not fully resolve structural conflicts.

Join us on Zoom: https://to.gmu.edu/AdjeiDefense