Impacts of Surface Gold Mining on Land Use Systems in Western Ghana

Schueler, V.; Kuemmerle, Tobias; Schröder, Hilmar

doi:10.1007/s13280-011-0141-9

Cited by 201 publications

(131 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Mining activities also cause health problems in the local communities and among wildlife by exposing them to mining waste in air, water and soil [24,[34][35][36][37][38]. The large-scale mining in the Qin-Ba mountainous area is posing direct and indirect threats to the local ecosystem [39,40].…”

Section: The Impact Of Mining On the Ecological Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Mining and Urbanization on the Qin-Ba Mountainous Environment, China

Cai

Sun

et al. 2016

Sustainability

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Abstract:The Qin-Ba Ecological Functional Zone is a component of China's ecological security pattern designed to protect the regional ecosystem and maintain biodiversity. However, due to the impact of mining and urban encroachment, the plight of a sustainable ecosystem in the Qin-Ba mountainous area is deteriorating. This paper has used a remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) to examine the impacts of mining and urban encroachment on the environment in the Qin-Ba mountainous area. The results indicate that the total mined area in 2013 was 22 km 2 and is predicted to escalate. Results also show that the ecosystems in Fengxian County, Shaanxi Province and Baokang County, Hubei Province were most severely affected by mining. Urbanization in the Qin-Ba mountainous area has seen an increase of 85.58 km 2 in urban land use from 2010 to 2013. In addition, infrastructure development including airport construction, tourism resorts and real estate development in the Qin-Ba mountainous area has intensified environmental and biodiversity disturbances since large areas of forest have been cleared. Our results should provide insight and assistance to city planners and government officials in making informed decisions.

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Section: The Impact Of Mining On the Ecological Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Mining and Urbanization on the Qin-Ba Mountainous Environment, China

Cai

Sun

et al. 2016

Sustainability

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“…Rapid population growth, rural-urban migration, urbanization, agricultural intensification and extensification, as well as expansion in surface mining, are some of the major causes of land use (LU) changes in West Africa [1][2][3][4]. According to FAO [1], about 32 million ha of forest were converted to other land uses between 1990 and 2010 in West and Central Africa.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Impacts of Land Use Changes on the Hydrology of a Lowland Rainforest Catchment in Ghana, West Africa

Aduah

Jewitt

Toucher

2017

Water

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Impact assessments of actual and potential land use (LU) changes on hydrology are vital in land use planning, which is a prerequisite for effective water resources management. In this study, impacts of actual, as well as potential, LU changes on the hydrology of the Bonsa catchment (1482 km 2 ), Ghana, West Africa, were assessed using the Agricultural Catchments Research Unit (ACRU) hydrological model. Baseline, current and potential future LU maps for three scenarios, namely, business-as-usual (BAU), economic growth (EG) and economic growth and reforestation (EGR), driven by observed climate between 1990 and 2009, were used for the study. The results indicate that peak and dry season streamflows between 1991 and 2011 have increased by 21% and 37%, respectively, under the current land use in comparison to the baseline due to a decrease in evergreen and secondary forests by 18% and 39%, respectively, and an increase in settlements, mining areas and shrubs/farms by 81%, 310% and 343%, respectively. The potential future LU scenarios suggest that there may be further increases in streamflows, but the historical land use changes between 1991 and 2011 were so substantial that they will continue to impact streamflow changes in any of the future land use scenarios. The study also showed that variability of streamflow changes at the catchment scale was lower than at the subcatchment scale. For the scenarios of potential future LU changes, the BAU shows the highest increases in streamflows, while the EGR shows the least. Policy interventions for effective management of the catchment are recommended.

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“…Previuos studies (Kusimi, 2008;Schueler et al, 2011; Kumi-Boateng et al, 2012) within the Ankobra River basin of the Western region of Ghana indicates that there is extensive deforestation, as a result of increasing urbanisation, mining and farming. Even though these studies analysed land cover changes for the Wassa West District within the Ankobra River basin (Kusimi, 2008;Schueler et al, 2011; Kumi-Boateng et al, 2012), none covered the entire Bonsa sub-catchment nor applied the results of the studies to project potential future land use changes, as well as assessing the impacts of the land use changes on catchment hydrology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even though these studies analysed land cover changes for the Wassa West District within the Ankobra River basin (Kusimi, 2008;Schueler et al, 2011; Kumi-Boateng et al, 2012), none covered the entire Bonsa sub-catchment nor applied the results of the studies to project potential future land use changes, as well as assessing the impacts of the land use changes on catchment hydrology. As a first stage in projecting potential future land use changes and assesing their impacts on Bonsa catchment hydrology, a more recent and multi-temporal land cover information for the entire catchment is needed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Land Cover Changes in the Bonsa Catchment, Ankobra Basin, Ghana

Aduah¹

2015

Appl Ecol Env Res

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PBAG x01, 3209, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg,Abstract. Multi-temporal land cover changes in the Bonsa catchment of the Ankobra Basin in Ghana were determined using four satellite images from 1986, 1991, 2002 and 2011. The results indicate that evergreen forest is the largest class occupying an area of 68% in 1986, 62% in 1991, 50% in 2002 and 51% in 2011 and during the past 26 years, the largest land cover change has been the conversion of evergreen and secondary forests to shrubs/farms, mining areas and settlements. During this period, mining areas increased over two-fold, while settlements and shrubs/farms increased more than three and four-fold, respectively. This resulted in increasing annual deforestation rate of 0.33% between 1986 and 1991, 0.70% between 1991 and 2002 and 2% between 2002 and 2011. The results suggests that the drivers of the land cover changes in the Bonsa catchment, are both local and global and include, international trade, local population growth, agriculture extensification and urbanization. The identified land cover changes have the potential to impact negatively on the hydrological regimes of the Bonsa River and the local communities by leading to flooding, soil erosion and the siltation and pollution of the river during peak seasons and the scarcity of water during dry seasons. Therefore, the maps and statistics generated can be applied to assess the impacts of the land use changes on the local hydrology and provide a better basis for future land use planning. Through these findings the importance of multi-temporal analysis of satellite imagery for planning in data poor regions is highlighted.

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Impacts of Surface Gold Mining on Land Use Systems in Western Ghana

Cited by 201 publications

References 44 publications

Impacts of Mining and Urbanization on the Qin-Ba Mountainous Environment, China

Impacts of Mining and Urbanization on the Qin-Ba Mountainous Environment, China

Assessing Impacts of Land Use Changes on the Hydrology of a Lowland Rainforest Catchment in Ghana, West Africa

Analysis of Land Cover Changes in the Bonsa Catchment, Ankobra Basin, Ghana

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