Quantification of Annual Settlement Growth in Rural Mining Areas Using Machine Learning

Abstract

Studies on annual settlement growth have mainly focused on larger cities or incorporated data rarely available in, or applicable to, sparsely populated areas in sub-Saharan Africa, such as aerial photography or night-time light data. The aim of the present study is to quantify settlement growth in rural communities in Burkina Faso affected by industrial mining, which often experience substantial in-migration. A multi-annual training dataset was created using historic Google Earth imagery. Support vector machine classifiers were fitted on Landsat scenes to produce annual land use classification maps. Post-classification steps included visual quality assessments, majority voting of scenes of the same year and temporal consistency correction. Overall accuracy in the four studied scenes ranged between 58.5% and 95.1%. Arid conditions and limited availability of Google Earth imagery negatively affected classification accuracy. Humid study sites, where training data could be generated in proximity to the areas of interest, showed the highest classification accuracies. Overall, by relying solely on freely and globally available imagery, the proposed methodology is a promising approach for tracking fast-paced population dynamics in rural areas where population data is scarce. With the growing availability of longitudinal high-resolution imagery, including data from the Sentinel satellites, the potential applications of the methodology presented will further increase in the future.

Health impacts of industrial mining on surrounding communities: Local perspectives from three sub-Saharan African countries

“…As suggested by our results, which also include data from one mining site under construction, the project implementation at large has implications for the health of surrounding communities by changes on the wider determinants. Overall, these perceived indirect health effects are also exemplified in several studies in the wider context of natural resource extraction, like poverty [ 35 ], export activities and HIV [ 36 ], health impacts of resettlement [ 16 ], nightlight and security [ 11 ]–to name a few.…”

“…Indeed, a large body of research investigates environmental pollution in mining areas, including related consequences for the health of affected populations [ 13 – 15 ]. Project-induced in-migration has also been identified as a major concern in mining regions that is associated with an array of health risks, including overburdened public infrastructure and social services or increased burden of sexually transmitted diseases [ 16 – 18 ].…”

Impact of mining projects on water and sanitation infrastructures and associated child health outcomes: a multi-country analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) in sub-Saharan Africa

“…Although these effects are directly or indirectly (through the household wealth index) adjusted for, it is possible that this source of bias has concealed the beneficial effects of the improved access to modern water and sanitation infrastructure in mining areas. However, it is also possible that other pathways of diarrheal infections are affected by the establishment of mining projects, such as hampered water quality, increased population density or changes in transport and storage practices of drinking water [ 15 , 49 ]. More in-depth research is needed to elucidate what factors contribute to childhood diarrhea in mining areas, ideally drawing from longitudinal data of cohorts.…”

“…On the other hand, depending on the type of resources extracted, the mining technology applied and environmental management in place, extracting and processing minerals is highly water-intense and can lead to environmental pollution [ 10 – 14 ]. At the same time, mining projects can result in rapid population growth [ 15 , 16 ]. Hence, mining projects can put additional strains on often already overburdened water and sanitation systems in affected communities [ 11 , 12 , 17 , 18 ].…”

Associations between Natural Resource Extraction and Incidence of Acute and Chronic Health Conditions: Evidence from Tanzania

“…Implementation of natural resource extraction projects often triggers a series of complex environmental and social–ecological changes [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. These changes include increased population growth and urbanization, infrastructure improvements, movement and installation of heavy machinery, changes in land use, increased business and economic opportunities, and household resettlement [ 5 , 6 , 7 ]. Such changes can positively or negatively affect the health status of communities in proximity of resource extraction activities [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ].…”