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sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

Titre : Power Dynamics in Gold Supply Chains : A political ecology perspective on the access to the gold and mercury market in the artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector in Burkina Faso

Auteur : Bugmann, Anna Andrea

Etablissement de soutenance : Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Zurich) ETHZ

Grade : Master’s degree programme in Environmental Sciences 2020

Résumé
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is both an important livelihood strategy for millions of people in rural areas and the leading source of mercury pollution globally. Although the Minamata Convention, established by the United Nations in 2017, addresses this challenge, the frequent use of mercury as an extractive tool for gold still persists. Among the explanations for the continuing use of mercury, the importance of trade dynamics has remained poorly researched so far. This Master’s thesis thus provides insights into power relations in ASGM supply chains in Burkina Faso by taking a political ecology perspective based on access concepts in combination with a risk framework for supply networks. A total of 64 interviews in Ouagadougou and on four ASGM sites in the North of Burkina Faso as well as 267 survey results from the same target sites have been collected for the analysis. On the one hand, the results of this mixed-methods approach shed light on the dual function of the gold collectors who are also the mercury providers. They show that the gold collectors mainly secure the mercury supply chain in order to increase their access to the gold market. On the other hand, the study discusses the distribution of capital and ASGM-typical risks along the gold and mercury supply chain and how they impact the trade dynamics on the sites, mainly via pre-financing mechanisms. These findings challenge the common perception of ASGMers as poverty-driven individual entrepreneurs and highlight the role of financially strong investors, who seek cheap labour opportunities in order to derive profits from the markets. The identification of power dynamics in different forms and at different stages of the gold and mercury supply chain fills both an empirical and a theoretical research gap. Moreover, it may contribute to finding innovative solutions to drive the transition towards a mercury-free ASGM sector

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