Ghana, Chile and Australia have joined an international research project to examine how African arts, folklore and indigenous knowledge can help shape fair and sustainable governance frameworks for critical minerals.
The Political Minerals Governance Transition project was launched in Accra by researchers from King’s College London, the University of Ghana and partner institutions in the three countries.
It seeks to deepen understanding of how communities, governments, traditional authorities and civil society organisations perceive justice in the extraction and governance of critical minerals such as lithium, graphite and cobalt.
Dr Clement Sefa-Nyarko, Project Lead, said the initiative would examine how cultural expressions and traditional knowledge could contribute to policy discussions on sustainable mining and extractive justice.
He said rising global demand for critical minerals, driven by the transition to cleaner energy technologies, had heightened the need for governance systems that reflected the values and aspirations of communities in resource-rich areas.
“Critical minerals are very important in the transition to net-zero emissions, but justice is another matter altogether. The main challenge is that we do not have a common understanding of what justice is,” he said.
Dr Sefa-Nyarko explained that while governments often focused on economic management, investment and energy transition objectives, local communities were more concerned about issues such as land rights and environmental stewardship.
He said a key feature of the research was its focus on African arts and folklore as repositories of indigenous knowledge that could inform modern approaches to critical minerals governance.
The study would use hermeneutical ethnography, a methodology that examines how communities communicate ideas about justice, accountability, environmental responsibility and resource stewardship through storytelling, music, proverbs, visual arts, performances and folklore.
“In many African societies, folktales, proverbs and storytelling traditions have long served as mechanisms for teaching responsible leadership, accountability and collective ownership of resources. We want to understand how these values can contribute to modern governance approaches to mining and sustainability,” he said.
Researchers would document and analyse cultural expressions, including community songs, oral histories, murals, drawings, films and folklore that reflect local perspectives on mining, development and environmental protection.
Dr Sefa-Nyarko said the researchers were interested in existing knowledge systems and any form of cultural expression that communicated ideas about justice and sustainable mining.
He said lessons from the cultural narratives could help policymakers develop governance frameworks that were more inclusive, participatory and responsive to the concerns of mining communities.
Findings from the research would be discussed through co-creation workshops involving community members, traditional leaders, government institutions, civil society organisations and other stakeholders.
The workshops would seek to promote shared ownership of the research outcomes and recommendations.
The project also seeks to contribute to international discussions on sustainable development by demonstrating how indigenous knowledge, arts and folklore can strengthen transparency, community participation and social accountability in critical minerals governance.
Prof Samuel Ntewusu, Director of the Institute of African Studies (IAS), said critical minerals should serve as a catalyst for Ghana’s industrialisation and shared prosperity rather than perpetuate the country’s dependence on raw material exports.
He said Ghana’s Energy Transition Framework recognised the strategic importance of minerals such as lithium and graphite to the development of battery manufacturing and electric vehicle value chains.
“Ghana must therefore pursue a minerals governance framework that balances investment and economic growth with environmental protection, community participation, transparency and intergenerational equity,” he said.
Prof Ntewusu said integrating local knowledge systems and cultural values into mineral governance could help build public trust and ensure that resource extraction generated lasting benefits for future generations.
He called for policies that placed communities at the centre of decision-making while recognising the role of African arts, folklore and traditional knowledge in shaping perceptions of justice and sustainable resource management.
Prof Ntewusu expressed optimism that lessons from Ghana, Chile and Australia would contribute to global efforts to establish fair, inclusive and culturally grounded governance systems for critical minerals.
