Displacement Without Voice: A Study of Habitat Loss Among Non-Human Species Due to Human Land-Use Practices in Ghana.

Abstract

Although land use has been altered by human activities related to mining and estate development in Ghana, the impact of this alteration on non-human species whose habitats are being lost or disrupted has been under-researched. This research explored how habitat loss represents the displacement of other species due to estate development and galamsey (artisanal and small-scale mining) operations in certain mining communities in Ghana. This study used a qualitative multiple-case design, and data were collected through field observations, key informant interviews with community members, miners, environmental officers, and traditional leaders, and relevant policy and regulatory analysis. The results showed that mining operations systematically impact the elimination of microhabitats, fragmentation of ecological landscapes, degradation of aquatic systems, and displacement of aquatic, soil, and freshwater species. These forms of displacement break up ecological connections, compromise the provisioning of ecosystem services (e.g., pollination and soil regeneration), and change human–nature relationships in mining communities. In addition to ecological reactions, the overall study captured emotional, cultural, and ethical reactions to the loss of non-human life, highlighting expressions of grief, moral unease, and the sense of a disruption of cultural connections to land and water bodies. The study also discovered that institutional compliance was weak, and anthropocentric development stories normalized non-human displacement and made it almost invisible from institutional mining governance. The researchers concluded that environmental degradation of habitats in mining landscapes cannot only be understood as loss of environment, but as ecological injustice as a result of extractive land-use systems. This calls for more inclusive and ethical mining regulations, environmental impact assessments, land-use planning, and recognition of the intrinsic value of non-human life and its interconnection with human well-being. In simple terms, the study shows that habitat displacement is also an environmental sustainability issue: when non-human habitats disappear, communities lose the natural benefits, such as clean water, fertile soil, and pollinated crops, that they depend on now and will need in the future.