Coastal environmental injustice in Ghana: the activities of coastal sediment miners in the Elmina, Cape Coast and Moree area Fredrick Ekow Jonah · Kofi Adu-Boahen © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014 Abstract Human impact has increased stunningly during the last century with coastal problems being one manifestation of environmental injustice with ecolog- ical, economic, and social dimensions on coastal resources. The study sought to assess the residents’ perception of coastline changes in the milieu of the rampant sand mining activities along the Elmina, Cape Coast and Moree coastline of Ghana. The study employed the purposive sampling technique: 100 respondents were engaged from the selected study areas through simple random sampling method. Inter- views, Focus group discussions, observations and questionnaire were the main instruments used. The study revealed that beach sand mining is widespread across the Elmina-Cape Coast-Moree coastline and takes place in several forms, with the magnitude of sand taken from the beach being dependent on the transportation medium and the purpose to which sand is to be put. It is considered that the 1995 National Environmental Policy has become outdated and the sections dedicated to the coastal zone are irrelevant due to new research data and trends in administration. The time is right for a concerted national policy dedicated to only the coastal zone that takes into consideration the multiplicity of use of the zone and adopts an integrated management approach. Keywords Erosion · Environmental injustice · Sand mining · Degradation · Ghana Introduction The coastal zones are the most populated and most preferred residential locations all over the world. For the first time in the history of the world, more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas (Fuller and Gaston 2009), most of which are within 150 km of coastlines (Syvitski et al. 2005). This area supports a multitude of industries including tourism, fishery, transportation, agriculture and mineral extraction. Due to the many varied stakeholders in the use of coastal areas, coastal resources are on top of debates on how to sustainably exploit them to equitably benefit the present generation and also ensure that future generations are not disadvantaged. The quality of the physical environ- ment of the coast is of great importance to the healthy living standards of coastal dwellers. Mensah (1997) observed that the effects of urbanization and concen- tration of industrial and commercial activities along the coast of West Africa, has resulted in an unprecedented exploitation of coastal resources such as coastal sedi- ments, mangrove forests, estuaries and seagrass beds. The construction sector in the coastal areas of Ghana has been known to rely heavily on coastal sand F. E. Jonah Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana K. Adu-Boahen (&) University of Education, Winneba, Ghana e-mail: kadu-boahen@uew.edu.gh 123 GeoJournal DOI 10.1007/s10708-014-9612-4