Sierra Leone - Unsustainable Growth - Kono Town
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Episode 7 - MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Unsustainable Growth
Diamond mining initiatives
Kono District, Sierra Leone
December 2010
The mining sector in Sierra Leone officially accounts for over 90% of the country's export earnings. However, the share of this sector in the country’s GDP has dropped from 16% in the early 1970s to 10% today. Illicit mining and widespread smuggling of gold and diamonds has increased over the past years. And excess exploitation of mines has led to decreasing public revenues and depleting deposits.
We went to Kono, a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone, which is the largest producer of diamonds in the country. We all know that the decade of brutal and devastating civil war in Sierra Leone was a "diamond war", fuelled by diamonds. Rival factions constantly fought for this area and much of the 600,000 population had to leave their homes. The vast lands of the Kono District were heavily looted, making Kono among the most ravaged districts of the country.
Both large-scale and artisanal mining today result in land degradation since miners clear lands, dig up vegetated areas, reducing the vegetative cover, often felling valuable trees. Mining activities in hilly areas and slopes also lead to soil erosion. Miners usually abandon the excavated areas that get filled by water and become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. This kind of mining contaminates water sources and makes land unsuitable for living or farming.
Unsustainable mining activities cause heavy siltation in river beds and creeks, reducing coastal coral and fish populations that feed and breed in it. Toxic wastes in the water sources contaminate marine life making them unfit for human consumption.
Such irresponsible and over-exploitative mining is often the cause for fierce clashes between farming communities and the floating population of artisanal miners.
The diamond reserves are both a blessing and blight for the people of Kono. The war is over but mining activities even today continue to destroy large tracts of land. Often companies, both foreign and national, procure mining licenses from the national government, take out the minerals and leave the land and the environment devastated. Although environment protection is the central issue of most international debates, international companies continue ravaging natural resources for profits and tempt local governments into violating legislations.
Why is it that we respect legislations in our countries, while we use every opportunity in other countries to maximise our profits even if this means crossing the threshold of human and natural resource exploitation?
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Additional notes
In Sierra Leone, the basic unit of local government outside the Western Area has generally been the chiefdom, headed by a paramount chief, who is elected for a life term. In 2004, however, the first local government elections in 32 years were held in 311 wards nationwide. The local councils are gradually assuming responsibility for functions previously carried out by the central government. As devolution progresses, chiefdom and council authorities are starting to work together to collect taxes. While district and town councils are responsible for service delivery, chiefdom authorities maintain their own infrastructure of police and courts, which are also funded by local taxes.
“We do not have diamonds as we used to before. Today, miners have to start looking for alternative work. The country also has to look for alternatives in agriculture since Sierra Leone has fertile land, like the cultivation of cash crops.” says a politician of the area.
“The last big diamond I found was 5 years back. It sustained my family for a whole year. I continue to mine without success and am doing some farming activities to survive”, says a miner.
“All productive land has been washed away by national diamond mining companies. Where you now see wasteland, earlier there were forests. The land is now degraded, destroying with it the habitat of rare and endangered species”, says an environmentalist
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In Sierra Leone the
basic unit of local government outside the Western Area has generally been the
chiefdom, headed by a paramount chief, who is elected for a life term. I n
2004, however, the first local government elections in 32 years were held in
311 wards nationwide. The local councils are gradually assuming responsibility
for functions previously carried out by the central government. As devolution
progresses, chiefdom and council authorities are starting to work together to
collect taxes. While district and town councils are responsible for service
delivery, chiefdom authorities maintain their own infrastructure of police and
courts, which are also funded by local taxes.
In Sierra Leone
mining sector officially accounts for over 90 percent of the country's export
earnings. It has lost some of its apparent strength, as its share of GDP has
dropped from 16 percent in the early 1970s to 10 percent. This decline,
however, reflects significant increases in unaccounted trade, as well as the
depletion of deposits. The failure to combat illicit mining and widespread
smuggling of gold and diamonds has significantly reduced public revenues.
Kono, the largest diamond producer in Sierra Leone, is a district in the
Eastern Province. Before the civil war, Kono District had a population well
over 600,000[citation needed]; however, it experienced devastation during the
Sierra Leone Civil War, which forced many of the residents out of the
district. The district was heavily looted and constantly fought over due to
the rich diamond reserves in the area.
Diamonds could be described, at their best a mixed-blessing, and at worst a curse to the vast land of Kono and her people. It is an open secret that Sierra Leone was rattled for about a decade by a barbaric civil war, which was fuelled by diamonds. Kono district is among the most ravaged districts as a result of what many refer to as a "diamond war."
The activities of Sierra Leone's two large-scale mining companies result in
land degradation through loss of vegetative cover, soil erosion, and
contamination of water sources. Small-scale mining of diamonds and gold raises
similar issues on a different scale. Artisanal mining results in deforestation
and land degradation; and stagnant water collects in excavated areas which are
abandoned by the miners, providing breeding ground for mosquitoes. Frequently,
there are clashes between the farming communities and the mobile artisanal
miners who are creating health hazardous conditions for the resident farmers.
The environmental impact of small-scale diamond mining activities is severe,
devastating the land by clearing and digging up vegetated areas. After an area
is mined the land is left exposed and degraded, unsuitable for farming or any
other activity. When the mining is carried out on hilly areas and slopes,
severe erosion takes place and flooding can result. In certain locations
miners not only remove vegetation and economically valuable trees but their
activities also divert surface drainage. Siltation in river systems is a
common problem to be faced by communities living downstream. Water collects
and stagnates in the dug-out areas contributing to health hazards, potentially
increasing the incidence of malaria and other water borne diseases.
Mining activities expose communities to a wide range of diseases. Heavy rains
cause dug-out areas to be transformed to stagnant ponds which are breeding
grounds for mosquitoes, exacerbating the problem of Malaria. Communities
interacting with water sources contaminated by mine wastes are exposed to
diarrheal diseases. Mining activities cause heavy siltation in river beds and
creeks, which reduces coastal coral and fish populations that feed and breed
in it. Toxic wastes in the water sources contaminate marine life making them
unfit for human consumption.
“We do not have diamonds as we used to before. Today, miners have to start looking for alternative work. The country also has to look for alternatives in agriculture since Sierra Leone has fertile land, like the cultivation of cash crops.” says a politician of the area.
“The last big diamond I found was 5 years back. It sustained my family for a whole year. I continue to mine without success and am doing some farming activities to survive”, says a miner.
“All productive land has been washed away by national diamond mining companies. Where you now see wasteland, earlier there were forests. The land is now degraded, destroying with it the habitat of rare and endangered species”, says an environmentalist
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