Livelihood Diversification Pathways and Resilience Outcomes among Cocoa Farming Households in Galamsey-Affected Landscapes of Ghana: A Systematic Review and Evidence Gap Map

Ghana’s economy is defined by a volatile and transformative interplay between its two most significant foreign exchange earners: cocoa agriculture and gold mining. Historically, cocoa farming has been the backbone of Ghana’s economy, providing livelihoods for millions of rural households and serving as a critical pillar of social stability. This "Golden Pod" has structured the socio-cultural rhythm of the forest belt for over a century. The formal cocoa sector is a national economic cornerstone, generating approximately $2 billion in foreign exchange annually for the country. However, this traditional agrarian livelihood system is currently under siege and simultaneously being reshaped by the rapid proliferation of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), locally known as galamsey. The complex interaction between these two spheres creates a profound crisis for national sustainability and rural stability. The environmental and socio-economic destruction wrought by galamsey has led to its characterization by major national stakeholders, such as Ghana COCOBOD, as the single biggest threat to cocoa production. This threat is exacerbated by the unregulated nature of the activities, which results in soil depletion, deforestation, contamination of major water bodies (heavy metal contamination of soil and water), destruction of habitats, loss of biodiversity, and the systematic takeover of arable land in crucial cocoa-growing areas. These impacts are particularly pronounced in cocoa-growing regions such as the Western, Western North, Ashanti, and Eastern Regions, where the spatial overlap between cocoa landscapes and mining hotspots is high. The term galamsey, derived from the phrase "gather them and sell," historically referred to artisanal gold mining practices where local communities would gather surface gold. However, in the contemporary landscape, the term has evolved to encompass a broad spectrum of unregulated, informal, and frequently illegal mining activities that utilize heavy machinery (excavators) and toxic chemicals (mercury and cyanide). While legal regimes often frame galamsey strictly as a criminal enterprise to be eradicated, the economic reality on the ground is far more nuanced. It represents a potent economic force, providing immediate liquidity and poverty alleviation for youth in rural areas where agricultural returns are delayed and uncertain. To quantify the magnitude of this disruption, spatial analysis has provided concrete evidence of the scale of the shock. In the cocoa growing areas of Ghana, the estimated total area directly affected by galamsey reached 27,839 hectares in 2013, with an overall indicative impact zone covering a massive 551,496 hectares. Critically, this activity is not localized but systemic; the direct encroachment has rapidly accelerated, more than tripling between 2011 and 2015. This spatial expansion, which includes 603 hectares of direct intrusion into protected forest reserves, demonstrates that the challenge facing cocoa farmers is a threat of systemic scale, necessitating an analysis of the failure of system-wide resilience, rather than focusing exclusively on localized household coping mechanisms. This interface between mining and agriculture is not merely a binary conflict over land use; it is a complex, symbiotic, and parasitic relationship that redefines rural livelihoods. The "encroachment" of galamsey on fertile lands poses a significant threat to cocoa cultivation through land degradation, labor displacement, and water pollution. Yet, paradoxically, for many cocoa farming households facing climate-induced yield reductions, pest infestations, and price volatility, participation in the mining sector, either directly or indirectly, has become a primary avenue for livelihood diversification. Cocoa farming households exhibit high intrinsic vulnerability due to their heavy dependence on a single cash crop, making them susceptible to price fluctuations, biological shocks, and changes in governmental policies. This chronic vulnerability is compounded by acute external shocks, primarily the direct encroachment, environmental degradation, and pollution caused by galamsey. Livelihood diversification is recognized in the literature as a crucial strategy for risk-spreading and improving climate change resilience in agrarian contexts. However, in regions afflicted by galamsey, the motivation for diversification often shifts from strategic adaptation to reactive survival. The declining economic viability of cocoa farming, marked by low yields and high costs, creates a powerful impetus for farmers to seek immediate, alternative income sources. The analytical challenge lies in distinguishing diversification that is merely reactive - a desperate short-term response like selling land or engaging in illegal mining for quick cash - from diversification that constitutes strategic adaptation - a planned, sustained investment in resilient livelihoods, such as agroforestry or stable non-farm enterprises. This distinction between reactive coping and strategic change forms a core analytical axis for evaluating the sustainability and long-term welfare outcomes of diversification pathways. While there is a burgeoning body of literature on galamsey and cocoa separately, the intersection is often treated fragmentarily. Some studies focus exclusively on the environmental degradation caused by mining, while others examine the labor economics of rural youth. There is a lack of consolidated evidence on how participation in galamsey specifically functions as a diversification strategy and how this interaction dictates the specific resilience outcomes of farming households. Furthermore, policy interventions often fail because they treat mining and farming as separate administrative silos. An Evidence Gap Map (EGM) is necessary to visualize the distribution of existing high-quality evidence, highlighting where research is abundant (e.g., environmental impacts of mercury) and where it is scarce (e.g., long-term transformative resilience of dual-livelihood households). This protocol outlines a rigorous method to synthesize this disparate evidence to inform evidence-based policy for key stakeholders such as the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and the Minerals Commission. Cocoa households respond through livelihood diversification that may affect income stability, food security, and resilience to shocks. Given these challenges, many cocoa-farming households have increasingly turned to various forms of livelihood diversification to reduce risk exposure, sustain income, and enhance household resilience. Diversification strategies range from engagement in off-farm employment, migration, petty trading, and alternative agricultural enterprises, to participation in community-based social support systems. Yet, the effectiveness of these strategies and their ability to build long-term resilience in the context of pervasive environmental and socio-economic shock remains insufficiently understood. This environmental and economic pressure creates a critical need to understand how cocoa-dependent households are adapting to maintain their well-being and productivity. Existing studies are scattered, vary in methodological rigour, and often fail to capture the complex interactions among galamsey-induced stressors, livelihood responses, and resilience outcomes. This systematic review will synthesize the existing body of empirical evidence on how livelihood diversification contributes to household resilience among cocoa farmers in Ghana’s galamsey-affected regions. A transparent, reproducible systematic review will synthesize evidence on the types, determinants and resilience outcomes of diversification strategies among cocoa farmers in galamsey-affected regions and identify knowledge gaps for policy and future research. By systematically identifying, evaluating, and integrating findings from peer-reviewed and grey literature, the study will articulate key patterns, methodological gaps, and theoretical insights.