Water Economics and Politics Seminar Series
/ Sustainability and Development

How do current and past mining activities affect water security, health, and economic opportunities?

Speaker: Assoc. Prof. Dr Raymond Frempong | European School of Political and Social Sciences, Catholic University of Lille, France

Moderator: Prof. Djiby Thiam | Director: WPE – Water and Production Economics, University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa

Time: 16:00 South African Standard Time (SAST) | GMT +2

Topic: This paper investigates the effects of mining activities on health care, income, and water deprivation in Africa. By combining household data with mining locations, we conducted an econometric analysis to assess the impact of mining on self-reported water security, health, and economic opportunities for 142,838 households. Our study utilises the presence of active and inactive mines to measure the effects of household exposure to mining activities. We observe that proximity to active mining sites is associated with self-reported improved water security, access to health, and economic opportunities. Instrumental variable estimates support a causal interpretation of our results. Specifically, households located within a 50 km radius of active mines reported a 4% lower probability of lacking clean water. Our findings also reveal that robust local institutions not only enhance water security but also mitigate the negative health impacts associated with mine closures. These results suggest that strengthening local governance can amplify the potential benefits of mining operations. Therefore, we recommend the strengthening of local government institutions to foster the resilience of vulnerable mining communities.

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Raymond Frempong

About the speaker: Prof. Frempong is an Associate Professor in Development Economics at the European School of Political and Social Sciences (ESPOL) in Lille, France. He studied Economics (BA and MPhil) at the University of Cape Coast and PhD (Economics) at the University of Bayreuth. His research interests are development economics, health economics, the economics of child labour, rural and agricultural development, energy and resource economics, and regional integration. He has authored several scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals, including Energy Economics, Development Policy Review, Journal of Development Studies, Nature Communication, PNAS nexus, and World Development. Dr Frempong’s research has been funded by grants from several organisations and institutions. He previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Development Economics at the University of Bayreuth. More on rfrempong.github.io.

Seminar format:

  • Live online session on Microsoft Teams
  • Duration: 1 hour
  • Live presentation with Q&A session

Who should attend: This series is open to students and faculty from academic institutions across South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, policymakers, engineering and technical professionals, advocacy groups, NGO staff, and anyone with a keen interest in water economics and policy.

The UCT-UCR Seminar Series

This seminar is part of the UCT-UCR Seminar Series: Water Economics and Politics, a collaboration between the University of Cape Town (UCT) and University of California, Riverside (UCR). Subscribe to our mailing list to receive updates on upcoming sessions.

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