The Environmental Impact of Mining Activities in the Local Community: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of mining activity on the environment of a local mining community. A novel approach was employed by contextualizing the role of deforestation and operational disturbance of mining activities in dragging environmental sustainability of the local community. This was anchored by specifying and estimating a structural equation model (SEM). Data used for the analysis were collected by administering questionnaires among 200 residents and indigenes of Ibise-Komu community in Oyo State, Nigeria. The instrument administration was facilitated by two indigenous volunteers who introduced the researcher to the community leaders who in turn mobilized the general community to participate in the study. The choice of this community was informed by the narratives of the locals that their environment has been perennially destroyed by the mining companies. The findings revealed that deforestation and operational disturbance are characteristic of the mining companies in the community, which have done little to champion the development of their host environment. As a result, the community environment is littered with land, water and air pollution which is majorly induced by indiscriminate mining of mineral deposits in the community. It is therefore recommended that the government and regulatory agencies should tie the operational license of the mining companies to their continuous compliance with environmental safety and sustainability of their host communities. This is a mechanism of managing conflicts between the community and the mines.