Synthesis of Small-Scale Mining Community Flood Vulnerability and Resilience Strategy in Ghana

The impacts of floods on communities can be devastating, leading to loss of property, displacement, and even the loss of lives. Despite efforts to address flood risks, the academic community’s understanding is still low. This paper synthesises the factors influencing flood vulnerability and the resilience strategies of three small-scale mining (SSM) communities in Ghana. The study employed interviews, document reviews and content analysis. The flood vulnerability factors include physical, social, economic, and environmental aspects. The effective coping strategies identified include participatory, community engagement, community-based disaster risk management, policy-level, and individual-level strategies. It can be concluded that illegal small-scale mining communities in Ghana are vulnerable to floods without any proactive measures to minimise the detrimental impact on the lives of the residents. Effective flood management programmes should be implemented in small-scale mining communities to increase their preparedness for the impact of floods. The study’s limitations include limited sample size, biased responses from respondents, and challenges in controlling the quality of the qualitative data. The paper provides insights into possible interventions to mitigate the impact of floods in small-scale mining communities.