Revisiting the host–refugee environmental conflict debate: perspectives from Ghana’s refugee camps

ABSTRACT

In the debate over refugee–host community environmental conflicts, refugees are often blamed, premised on the notion that refugees add substantially to anthropogenic activities as a result of both their demographic and socio-economic status. We employ political ecology to understand how power and economic considerations play out in the access to and use of environmental resources in Ghana’s refugee-hosting communities. Drawing mainly on qualitative data generated through group discussions and in-depth interviews, we propose an alternative position that environmental conflicts are driven by the inability of hosts to fulfil their economic interests from refugee activities. Where such economic interests are fulfilled, host–refugee environmental interactions are more likely to be devoid of conflicts even where environmental deterioration is pronounced. Negotiating how hosts and refugees collaborate in the use of, and returns from, environmental resource-related activities holds a central position in stemming environmental conflicts.

RÉSUMÉ

Le débat sur les conflits environnementaux entre réfugiés et communautés d’accueil met souvent les réfugiés en accusation, à partir de l’idée selon laquelle ils augmentent considérablement les activités anthropogéniques en raison de leur statut démographique et socio-économique. Nous employons l’écologie politique pour comprendre l’influence du pouvoir et des considérations économiques sur l’accès aux ressources environnementales et sur leur utilisation dans les communautés d’accueil de réfugiés au Ghana. En nous appuyant principalement sur des données qualitatives issues de discussions de groupe et d’entretiens en profondeur, nous proposons un point de vue différent, selon lequel les conflits environnementaux sont motivés par l’incapacité des hôtes à satisfaire leurs intérêts économiques grâce aux activités des réfugiés. Lorsque ces intérêts économiques sont satisfaits, les interactions environnementales entre hôtes et réfugiés rendent moins probables les conflits, même lorsque la détérioration de l’environnement est prononcée. La négociation de la manière dont les hôtes et les réfugiés collaborent en ce qui concerne l’utilisation des ressources environnementales et les rendements découlant des activités qui lui sont associées, occupe une place centrale dans l’endiguement des conflits environnementaux. 

KEYWORDS:

• Refugees
• environmental degradation
• host communities
• Ghana
• refugee camps

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Réfugiés
• dégradation environnementale
• communautés d’accueil
• Ghana
• camps de réfugiés

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) for generously funding the fieldwork upon which this paper draws, through the Doctoral Research Award programme. We also wish to acknowledge the suggestions of two anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The field research was conducted between August 2013 and March 2014.

2. A bottle of schnapps and a token was presented to each chief.

3. Klikor refugee camp was located near Ghana’s eastern border and was home to refugees who fled the political instability in Togo during the regime of Eyadema.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the International Development Research Centre [Doctoral Award].

Notes on contributors

Samuel K. M. Agblorti

Samuel K. M. Agblorti is a senior lecturer in the Population and Health Department of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. His research interests focus broadly on migration and refugee studies. His current research analyses refugees’ activities in host communities and the implications for durable solutions for refugees in the Global South. His most recent work (with Miriam Grant) conceptualizes obstacles to local refugee integration in Ghana.

Miriam Grant

Miriam Grant is a professor emerita, Department of Community, Culture and Global Studies, University of British Columbia (UBC) Okanagan; associate member, Geography, UBC; and adjunct, Department of Geography, University of Calgary. Her research interests include migration, urban food security, lodging (private rental) and HIV/AIDS.