Abstract:
The literature on community-mining enterprise conflict is currently
dominated by discourses on equity, compensation, land
ownership, and environmental degradation. While much debate
has dwelled on whether mining is a curse or a blessing, little
attention has been given to highlight the meanings that
communities attach to the assets being fought over, and the need
therefore to review existing laws on mining, and practices to
reflect these realities.
The displacement of over 3000 residents in Kwale, Kenya to make
way for the mining of titanium has raised serious concerns over
indigenous resource ownership and control in Kenya’s mining
industry, calling for a fresh look at the Kenyan mining law. Using
an ethno-ecological approach, this article explains how a community’s
loss of land assets can induce a sense of vulnerability which can
prefigure conflict. The conflict demonstrates the need for a more
sensitive approach to community resource ownership and indigenous
mineral control.
