Published on The Conversation (February 18, 2026), this article argues that the global supply of critical minerals essential for clean energy transitions — such as lithium — is increasingly at risk due to insufficient consultation and inclusion of local communities in mining projects.

Critical Mineral Supply Faces Risks if Local Communities Aren’t Consulted Enough: The Case of Lithium in Ghana

By: Clement Sefa-Nyarko, King’s College London

Clean technologies depend on critical minerals such as lithium and cobalt. Over 65% of the world’s cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nearly 40% of the world’s manganese is mined in South Africa. Substantial deposits of lithium are found in Zimbabwe. Ghana is emerging as a miner of that mineral of lithium too.

What’s less well understood is how the supply chains of these minerals are assessed and managed. The dominant view is that only three players matter: the mineral-mining industry, the host state where the minerals are found, and the wider geopolitical equation.

But there’s a fourth piece of the puzzle: the role of communities.

I am an academic researching justice and equity in critical minerals governance and energy transitions. In a recent paper, I examined the role of communities and the presence or absence of a social licence to operate. In other words, community “approval” that allows a project to proceed.

I focused on Ghana’s emerging lithium sector. Communities here are already feeling livelihood and social pressures following the commercial discovery. My research shows that weak and opaque governance around critical-mineral projects create early friction between communities, companies and the state. I found that delays in legal and regulatory processes, exclusion from decision making, and inadequate compensation routinely disrupt livelihoods in lithium rich communities.

These governance failures heighten local tensions. When communities feel sidelined or harmed, the risk of social conflict rises sharply. It can result in project delays, shutdowns and higher costs for both states and companies. These pressures are not incidental. They directly affect the stability of global supply chains.

I argue that effective risk governance must move beyond geopolitics. It must embed the fundamentals of social legitimacy. These include:

• free, prior and informed consent
• fair and transparent benefit-sharing
• sustained, meaningful engagement with affected communities.

Without these basics, no amount of technological innovation or diplomatic negotiation can secure the minerals needed for the energy transition.

As global competition intensifies over access to strategic minerals, the governance of mining sites in the global south becomes important for supply chain assurance.

Why local participation matters

My argument is that local participation is one of the strongest predictors of whether mining projects gain or lose legitimacy, and therefore whether supply chains remain stable or face disruption.

When communities are involved early and meaningfully in decisions about land access, water use, environmental safeguards and compensation, they are more likely to see mining not as an imposed threat but as a negotiated partnership. This reduces uncertainty, builds trust and lowers the likelihood of conflict. Those conditions are essential for predictable mineral flows.

Research in sustainable mining consistently shows that communities are not passive recipients of mining impacts. They are active agents whose consent, cooperation or resistance can determine the lifespan of entire supply chains. Participation creates the space for communities to articulate their needs. It shapes benefit‑sharing mechanisms and ensures that mining does not undermine local livelihoods. When people have no voice in decisions that affect their land, water or social well-being, grievances accumulate and protests, legal challenges or operational blockages become far more likely.

Findings from my research further demonstrate that participation is a practical risk-management tool. It is not a symbolic gesture. In mining communities, weak engagement and unclear communication about land restrictions and compensation create perceptions of dispossession. They intensify tensions that threaten project timelines. Conversely, when engagement is consistent and meaningful, concerns are addressed early. This reduces the likelihood of costly shutdowns and strengthens the long‑term security of mineral supply chains.

Participation anchors mining projects in social legitimacy. It shifts extraction from something done to communities towards something negotiated with them. It turns potential flashpoints into points of cooperation. In a world where a single protest can disrupt global supply chains, community participation is no longer optional. It is a fundamental safeguard for the energy transition.

Way forward

Reducing the risk of supply-chain disruptions is not easy, but there is a clear path to it.

First, future global meetings like the COP climate summits and UN processes should explicitly include critical minerals, sustainable mining and community protections as formal agenda items. This will close the long-standing governance gap that leaves mineral supply chains exposed.

Second, international bodies should develop shared indicators for meaningful participation, benefit-sharing and community legitimacy. Social licence must be treated as a material risk factor that can halt mines and disrupt global markets.

Instead of resisting regulation, mineral-producing countries should help shape global environmental, social and governance expectations. They should reflect local priorities, environmental conditions and value-addition goals, while ensuring stable, responsible mineral flows.

Governments and companies should establish shared governance arrangements covering water use, land access, benefit-sharing and grievance processes. This will build trust early and prevent local conflict.

Also, mineral-rich countries should align on minimum social and environmental standards, free, prior and informed consent requirements, and value-addition policies. These will ensure diversification does not encourage weak oversight or exploitation.

Clement Sefa-Nyarko, Lecturer in Security, Development and Leadership in Africa, King’s College London

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Conventional wisdom dictates that rising prices should lead to falling demand. However, this article challenges that notion by delving into the complex and often counterintuitive relationship between global oil prices and petrol consumption in Ghana. Drawing on recent research analyzing market data from 2016 to 2024, Rafael Adjpong Amankwah reveals that higher crude oil prices do not automatically suppress demand. Instead, factors like consumer hoarding behavior in anticipation of future hikes and the essential nature of petrol for transport and logistics can keep consumption stable or even cause it to spike temporarily.

Rising oil prices could trigger unexpected petrol demand in Ghana

By: Rafael Adjapong Amankwah

Fuel prices may rise again soon, but what if higher prices don’t actually reduce petrol consumption in Ghana?

Discussions about rising global crude oil prices are once again dominating energy market conversations, raising concerns about higher petrol prices and increased transport costs across Ghana.

Yet the relationship between oil prices and petrol consumption may not be as straightforward as many assume. Conventional economic theory suggests that when fuel prices rise, consumers should reduce consumption. However, recent research analyzing Ghana’s petrol market reveals a more complex pattern of behavior.

The study finds that crude oil prices exhibit a positive relationship with petrol consumption, indicating that higher prices do not necessarily suppress demand as standard models predict.

This pattern reflects several structural characteristics of Ghana’s economy.

First, alleged BDC’s stockpiling increases the potential for increased purchases(demand) vis a vis consumption as consumers often engage in anticipatory or hoarding behavior when price increases are expected.

Second, global crude oil price increases do not necessarily reduce petrol consumption in Ghana in the short run. Petrol is an essential input for transport, logistics, and small business operations, meaning substitution possibilities are limited. As a result, consumption may remain stable or even increase due to inventory adjustments and expectations of further price hikes

These findings also carry an important methodological implication that Traditional symmetric demand models, which assume that price increases and decreases produce equal but opposite responses in consumption, appear to misrepresent the dynamics of Ghana’s petrol market.

When asymmetric price behavior such as the Rock-and-Feathers effect interacts with structural demand constraints, consumption responses become more complex than standard theory predicts.

Using monthly national data from 2016 to 2024 and applying a nonlinear econometric approach, the study examined how crude oil prices, exchange rates, inflation, and domestic fuel taxes affect petrol consumption.

The findings show that petrol consumption in Ghana responds asymmetrically to price changes. In practical terms, this means that price increases and price decreases do not affect consumption in the same way.

The research also highlights the importance of exchange rate movements. Because Ghana imports most of its refined petroleum products, a depreciation of the cedi significantly increases the local cost of fuel and tends to reduce consumption.

Perhaps the most influential factor identified in the study is domestic fuel taxation. Changes in taxes, levies and margins have a stronger effect on petrol consumption than movements in global crude oil prices. In particular, reductions in fuel taxes tend to stimulate consumption much more strongly than tax increases suppress it.

These findings suggest that policymakers seeking to manage fuel demand, inflation, and fiscal stability should pay close attention to domestic fuel pricing structures rather than focusing solely on international oil price movements.

As global oil markets face renewed volatility, understanding how Ghanaian consumers and businesses respond to fuel price changes will become increasingly important for economic planning and energy policy

Understanding the behavioral responses behind fuel consumption is critical for managing energy affordability, fiscal stability, and economic resilience.

The next time fuel prices rise in Ghana, the assumption that “higher prices reduce consumption” may need to be reconsidered.

In reality, the dynamics of petrol demand are shaped by behavioral responses, policy decisions, and exchange rate pressures, not just global crude oil prices. Understanding these asymmetries could be the difference between reacting to fuel price shocks and actually managing them.

Rafael Amankwah is a professional in Ghana’s downstream energy sector with a background in energy economics and investment strategy. He is passionate about advancing sustainable energy solutions and applies research, behavioral insights, and innovation to support smarter energy policies and business models. 

In an open letter to Israel’s ambassador, author Seth K. Awuku argues that Ghana must resist pressure to take sides in the escalating Israel-Iran conflict. Drawing on the recent wounding of Ghanaian peacekeepers in Lebanon and the nation’s non-aligned legacy, he calls for a return to diplomacy, restraint, and the protection of national interest over strategic alignment. Read the full commentary below.

Ghana Must Choose Diplomacy Over Alignment in the Israel–Iran Crisis: Lessons from Ghana’s Peacekeeping and Non-Aligned Legacy

By: Seth K. Awuku

Your Excellency Ambassador Roey Gilad,
I extend sincere diplomatic courtesy and appreciation for your prompt humanitarian response following the missile strike that wounded Ghanaian peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

In times of shared sorrow, words carry profound weight. Your description of the attack as “tragic” and “catastrophic,” along with your wishes for the swift recovery of the injured soldiers, reflects genuine compassion. Ghana receives such gestures with gratitude, for they affirm our shared humanity amid the smoke of conflict.

Yet only two days earlier, on March 5, during a public briefing in Accra, you urged Ghana to “join its voice” in confronting Iran and to support a strategic change in its leadership to end threats and instability.

That appeal, understandable from Israel’s perspective, now stands in painful contrast to the fresh wounds suffered by Ghanaian soldiers serving under the United Nations. Tragedy, once named, requires more than sympathy—it demands reflection.

The attack of March 6 tore through the Ghanaian battalion headquarters in southern Lebanon, leaving two soldiers critically injured and another traumatized. Ghanaian peacekeepers have served in Lebanon for decades, often under dangerous and unpredictable conditions.

These events revive older concerns about the security of our personnel abroad and the broader risks that accompany escalating regional conflict.

They also follow a troubling incident in December 2025 at Ben Gurion International Airport, where several Ghanaians including members of an official delegation were detained for hours and subjected to questioning and searches that Ghana later described as humiliating and degrading. Such incidents, when repeated, inevitably strain trust.

Reciprocity, transparent investigation, accountability, and credible assurances against recurrence are essential to rebuilding confidence.

Your Excellency, during the Israel–Hamas War in November 2023, I addressed an open letter to your predecessor, Shlomit Sufa, cautioning that if the conflict escalated unchecked, it “may not be like other wars; it may be apocalyptic in scope and possibly destructive of our globe.” That warning was offered not in division, but in concern for the safety and future of all peoples caught in the widening arc of war.

Recent missile exchanges between Israel and Iran demonstrate the growing lethality of modern warfare and the alarming vulnerability of civilian populations – even in countries equipped with advanced defense systems. Ghana, however, does not possess such protections.

Our security priorities focus primarily on internal stability and peacekeeping obligations. We do not have missile interception systems, sophisticated air defenses, or the strategic infrastructure necessary to withstand retaliatory strikes in a wider regional confrontation. Alignment in conflicts of this magnitude, without equivalent protection, exposes vulnerabilities that Ghana cannot afford. Our ports, markets, infrastructure, and communities would all be at risk should tensions expand beyond the Middle East.

Precisely because great powers often allow strategic rivalries to overshadow the urgency of peace, middle powers like Ghana carry a different kind of responsibility. Our diplomatic tradition, shaped by the non-aligned vision of Kwame Nkrumah, strengthened through decades of peacekeeping, and inspired by the global statesmanship of Kofi Annan, places upon us a quiet but meaningful moral authority.

We can call for restraint without appearing weak, advocate dialogue without conceding defeat, and remind the world that wisdom in diplomacy is often measured not by the volume of power, but by the courage to prevent catastrophe.

The Hebrew Scriptures offer a powerful reminder of the difference between victory and legacy. In 1 Chronicles, King David is told he cannot build the temple because he has shed too much blood. Instead, that task falls to his son Solomon, whose name signifies peace and rest. True greatness, the text suggests, lies not only in the victories of war but in the achievements of peace.

History also remembers another figure: Samson, the blinded warrior who in despair pulled down the pillars of the temple, destroying himself and his enemies alike. If modern conflicts are pushed toward such desperation; if nuclear doctrines or catastrophic retaliation ever become reality, the consequences would extend far beyond the borders of any single nation. Ghana therefore pleads for wisdom over pride and restraint over escalation.

In moments such as this, the measure of leadership is not found in the power to escalate conflict, but in the wisdom to pause, reflect, and choose the harder path of peace.

May the calm voice of diplomacy silence the roar of war.

May the wounded recover before new wounds are inflicted.

May the pain of mistrust fade like morning mist across the savanna.

And may history remember not the clash of weapons, but the courage of those who chose dialogue over destruction.

With respect for your office, hope for the recovery of the injured, and a shared aversion to catastrophe,

I remain,
By Seth K. Awuku
Principal, Sovereign Advisory
Former Immigration and Refugee Lawyer (Ottawa, Canada)
Writer on international law, diplomacy, and refugee governance