West Africa Mining Host Communities Indaba

West Africa Mining Host Communities Indaba.

Theme – Contextualizing Green Mining Within Free, Prior, and Informed Consent!

Date – Wednesday 24 to Friday 26 September 2025

  In-Person Registration

Virtual Registration

West Africa is replete with critical minerals (including gold, iron ore, bauxite, lithium, cobalt, uranium, etc.) which are essential to both traditional industries and the acceleration of global energy transition. While some of these minerals (for example – coal) are best left unexploited because of the unavailability of technology to effectively harness them, and their negative environmental and social impacts, the effective governance of the extraction of other minerals hold the potential to transform the nations that make up the subregion by driving socioeconomic and infrastructural development, and providing them with the leverage that they need to overcome decades of underdevelopment.

Yet, the lived realities of host communities across the 16 states of the subregion contradict this promise. Instead of shared prosperity, mining has too often resulted in environmental degradation, exacerbated climate change, deepened inequity, displaced indigenous communities, and aggravated social unrest. Furthermore, the buzz around green energy transition is growing as demand for critical minerals (like lithium and cobalt for batteries) increases, presenting both opportunities and risks. Without urgent reform, this surge may widen existing inequities and further marginalize mining host communities. Yet, while businesses and governments are exploring the prospects of transitioning to ‘clean energy’, mining host communities remain disenfranchised from these conversations that directly impact them.

Subsequent to its exploitative history of colonial mineral pillage, West Africa has continued to contend with a myriad of mining-related issues antithetical to development: land grabbing by mining companies, the intensification of resource competition, strains in social cohesion, and insecurity. Gender-based violence, child labour, and the degradation of labour also frequently feature due to the poor governance of the sector.

Environmental degradation from deforestation, open-pit mining, and water contamination jeopardize public health and food security, and leave several mining host communities vulnerable and disempowered. In many instances, entire indigenous communities have been forcefully uprooted from their ancestral homes, severing cultural ties and traditional livelihoods. In the absence of sustainable alternatives, many communities become economically dependent on an industry that undermines their well-being.

Compounding these issues is a profound information gap. Many mining host communities lack awareness of their rights, the legal frameworks that govern mining, or the mechanisms for redress. Even when such knowledge exists, enforcement is weak. Key protections such as Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), mandated under the ECOWAS Directive on Mining, remain unimplemented or ignored by ECOWAS member states.

For the past 5 years, Global Rights has convened mining host communities across the West African region under the auspice of the West African Mining Host Communities’ Indaba to deliberate on their common issues and to chart a common path forward towards resolving them. The organization is again in September, 2025 convening the5th West African Mining Host Communities Indaba in Abuja, Nigeria.