A legal appraisal of the emerging oil and gas industry in Ghana

Abstract

The oil resource in Ghana is rightly viewed as a national natural resource, a critical attention however, ought to be paid to the indigenes in the oil mining areas and their environment. The lifestyles and basic livelihood of the ordinary man in these oil mining towns have been greatly affected if not altered. Living standards have soar at rocket rates overnight; adverse effects of mining activities have affected the farming community in these mining areas and caused huge unemployment issues. This has the potential of creating huge inequalities and instability among the ordinary Ghanaian in the mining areas and at the same time possess a major threat to business growth. Focus has been placed on commercial mining activities without considering the adverse social effects that these activities have on the people in the mining communities. These concerns are not receiving the necessary attention by the government. To address them, this research reviews literature on the role of Corporate Social Responsibility and posit it with the social effects of oil and gas mining activities. It proceeds to recommend how mining companies can deal directly with the mining communities to bridge this gap through sustainable responses to meet the social impact needs that has arisen as part of their activities.

Keywords: Oil and Gas Industry, Social Effects, Corporate Social Responsibilities.