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Suffice it to say that the environment is a God-given resource all people are entitled (or supposed to be entitled) to. When “God saw that everything he made was good,” he intended for us to breathe the same “good” air quality, consume the same “good” water quality, benefit from the same “good” ecosystem services, and dwell on the same “good” earth and enjoy its clean produce.
But since we have all decided to alter the once pristine environment and make it ‘bad’ by polluting it with our human activities, we should equitably bear the concomitant environmental burdens. Environmental injustice arises when, for example, we all benefit from the electricity produced by gas-powered plants but dump the hazardous emissions on some marginalized communities. Neither is it fair that we all generate waste and dump them at the doorstep of some poor communities nor is it just that we mine gold and leave the already vulnerable mining communities to live with contaminated water and depleted forest. The principle of environmental justice (EJ) demands fair treatment of all people, irrespective of income, colour, or nationality, regarding environmental benefits and burdens. The disproportionate exposure of marginalized and underserved communities to environmental pollution and contamination is what environmental injustice is about. Perhaps this illustration would shed more light.
In Ghana today, the most favorite and most sought-after residences by both Ghanaians and foreigners who can afford them are East Lagon, Trasacco Valley, Cantonments, or Aburi Hills. Why these neighborhoods are more preferred to places such as Agbobloshie, Abokobi, Obuasi, or Bogoso is obvious. Isn’t it? Apart from the high security and the top-notch amenities these first-choice communities provide their rich residents, they have a cleaner environment. They are often surrounded by gardens and green spaces that give occupants a tranquil and pleasant environment.
Yet, most of these wealthy and highly educated ruling elite residents own shares in the power plants, the mining concessions, and other business entities responsible for the reckless environmental pollution in marginalized rural communities. Despite the untold riches acquired from these communities by businesses over the years, community members remain impoverished. Abandoned to their fate, rural community members can no longer access their farmlands and the once pristine natural environment handed down to them by their forebears, leaving them with a deteriorating quality of life. Moreover, the release of dangerous chemical effluents, poisoning water bodies, and hazardous air emissions into the atmosphere by the operations of industries located in underserved communities put the people in the area at a disproportionate risk of exposure to environmental harm, raising public health concerns.
Now that you have a good understanding of environmental injustice, let me move on to talk briefly about some of the most critical public health risks resulting from the environmental pollution in these underserved communities that we need to be concerned about. I would not pretend to be a public health professional, but I can speak based on the plethora of public health data from EJ communities in the U.S.
Available data from EJ screening and mapping tools illustrate that critical health issues, such as cardiovascular disease, asthma, cancer, other respiratory diseases, and neurological diseases faced by communities in EJ areas of concern are linked to environmental exposures. To give a better perspective, a typical U.S.EPA EJ Screening report in an environmental justice community would have critical health risk indicators, such as heart disease, cancer, asthma, persons with disability, and low life expectancy values higher than the U.S. average values due to higher environmental exposures.
Going by the same trend, I am alarmed to say that many people living in communities with environmental injustice in Ghana are at higher risk of asthma, cancer, and other critical diseases associated with environmental exposures. Thus, they risk having lower life expectancy than those living in the environmentally clean areas of Ghana.
The solutions to addressing environmental injustices in Ghana are not far-fetched, and I will discuss a few briefly.
Firstly, there should be environmental justice advocacy and activism to fight against environmental injustice. In the U.S., environmental justice advocacy is said to be the impetus for many successful environmental justice efforts. To achieve that, it requires all concerned about the environment – whether you are an environmentalist or not, to speak up for the voiceless communities suffering injustice.
Secondly, we need national data on environmental exposures and related health risks. With such screening, we could have a community-based assessment of environmental exposures and associated health risks, based on which communities that are more at risk could be mapped to receive special attention.
Thirdly, we must reform our environmental protection rules to incorporate environmental justice principles of ensuring fair treatment of all persons concerning environmental benefits and harms. The Ghana EPA must adopt more stringent permitting guidelines that would ensure stricter compliance requirements for facilities seeking permits to operate in marginalized communities, preventing them from further burdens.
Finally, we need to make investments in environmental injustice communities. We should allocate financial resources to projects that will generate environmental benefits alongside economic returns in communities facing environmental injustice. Where necessary, there should be environmental remediation exercises to clean contaminated water and soil and build urban community packs for recreational use and tourism.
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The author, James Mensah, is an environmental professional and currently a Graduate Public Service Intern at the Office of Environmental Justice, Illinois EPA, USA.
Email: jamemensah@gmail.com
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