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Illegal Gold mining and water quality. A case study of River Offin in the Central Region of Ghana
(2018)
Ghana as a country in the west of Africa is naturally endowed with many rich natural resources some of which includes; Gold, diamond, bauxite, manganese, cocoa, etc. Currently, it’s the second leading producer of gold production in Africa after South Africa. Gold production has produced a lot of benefits to the nation but at the same time contributed to many negativities ranging from pollution (water and air), land degradation, ethnic conflicts and deforestation. Industrial gold mining itself was never a big issue that caused any panic in the country till illegal gold miners “Galamseyers” also commenced operating. The sole objectives of this research were to determine the level of some specific heavy metal (Mercury, Lead, Arsenic and Zinc) concentrations within the Offin River in Dunkwa-on-Offin, Buabenso, Ayanfuri and Nkotumso. Results after the research revealed that, Ayanfuri recorded the highest level of concentrations. Nkotumso followed in that order before Buabenso with Dunkwa-on-Offin recording the least concentrations. It also became clear later that, even though the degree of intensiveness of the illegal mining “Galamsey” operations could have been a main factor for the increased concentrations, another finding was that, towns or communities that recorded higher concentrations throughout the study also showed to be towns that made use of inorganic fertilizers on its farms. The Minerals and mining Act 2006 of Ghana was then analyzed and conclusion was that, though the country has very strong policies regarding illegal mining termed “Galamsey”, there seemed to be institutional loop holes that have not been strong enough to combat illegal mining in the country. In recommending policy directives to improve the river quality, six (6) institutions including the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology(MEST), Minerals Commission of Ghana, Environmental Protection Agency, Forestry Commission and the water Resources Commission were identified with detailed recommended roles clearly spelt out for each institution.
Ghana’s timber industries have traditionally focussed on certifying international demand (exports) to the detriment of domestic wood consumption. The legal wood supply to the domestic market has become insufficient to satisfy the growing needs of the local population. This research aims at gaining greater insight into the sources of wood supply to Ghana’s domestic wood markets focusing on the contribution of legal wood by the mainstream timber companies.
The study used random and purposive sampling techniques for selecting the respondents in the domestic wood market, wood producers as well as consumers. Additionally, the views of the respondents were sought through well semi-structured questionnaires. On the other hand, views from key informants, mostly experts, and regulators in Ghana’s wood industry were solicited through interviews.
The result indicates that the formal timber processors supply 73% of their processed lumber to the export market and 27% to the domestic market. The destination of the 27% is both the domestic market and other lumber demanded sectors especially large scale construction and furniture companies. The carving industry on other hand obtains wood directly from the farmers and not necessary from the domestic wood market. At the domestic timber market, dealers receive lumber supply from both formal (16. 7%) and informal (83.3%) sources.
The domestic wood sector provides livelihood support to both wood dealers, consumers as well as artisans. About 70% of respondents (wood dealers) used in the survey have no other source of livelihood for existence except wood business.
Owing to the immense contribution of the domestic wood market to the country’s economy and developmental agenda, a calls for policy review especially 20% supply of formal processed lumber to the domestic market is timely. Additionally, looking at the various interventions to curtail illegal chain saw and the continued market demand, the study believes more regulated measures will better help the nation to grasped huge revenue lost as a result of illegalities to embark on vigorous afforestation programs to sustain the domestic wood market.
Policy measures are essential tools for the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources in the electricity generation. Feed-in tariffs (FITs) are the most used policy for support of renewable technologies globally. Nevertheless, Ecuador phased-out FITs in 2016 and adopted auctions in 2015. Ecuador’s implementation of auctions reflects an approach with little relation to practices in other countries and without a technology-specific design. On the other hand, Germany demonstrates a long trajectory in policy-making with vast experience in FITs. Moreover, in 2017 Germany adopted auctions as the official policy to support renewable projects with a scope larger than 750 kW. However, FITs are still in use and complement auctions.
This thesis analyses and compares the country-specific contexts where these policies are implemented through the lens of a multi-level perspective framework. As a result, the most important success factors in Germany have been identified: long-term planning, institutional continuity, legislative stability and principally an actively participating society, which is environmentally aware. Obstacles for the transition in Ecuador are institutional discontinuity, legislative inconsistency, the lack of long-term planning and absence of society as actors of the transition. Due to Germany’s pioneering role plus the successful growth of renewable sources during the last twenty years, their policy implementations appear desirable to adopt in other contexts. Therefore, a prospective transferability of the auction policy from Germany to Ecuador is additionally analyzed.
The present thesis research was focused on the assessment of hydrological drought in the Tempisque-Bebedero catchment system in Costa Rica as part of the TropiSeca project framework. The study area is in the province of Guanacaste and has an extension of 5449.94 Km2, the region is characterized by a defined wet and dry season resulting in a marked seasonality in precipitation and streamflow regime which provokes frequent periods of water deficits considered as drought.
The main objective of this research is to conduct an analysis on hydrological drought in the study area through the understanding of the behavior of hydrological cycle and its implications for the rice sector by applying different drought indices such as Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Streamflow Drought Index (SDI). From the values obtained in the calculation of drought indices were studied the temporal distribution and spatial distribution based on the characterization of drought periods in terms of frequency, severity, duration, and seasonality.
For the characterization of meteorological drought in the study area an approach based on area average precipitation was implemented to calculate a regional representative SPI for each sub-basin, in contrast, hydrological drought was assessed using only two streamflow gauges data provided by the ICE from 1973 until 2003.
As result, Tempisque showed longer drought periods in comparison with Bebedero whose mean duration was lower but the number of drought events were more frequent. In terms of spatial distribution, it could be found that the upper basin experienced extreme meteorological drought periods at high time scales tied to a severe streamflow deficit probably justified by its low permeability due to geological characteristics that allow a slow movement of groundwater.
Additionally, one of the aims of this thesis was to analyze the existence of correlation between precipitation and streamflow anomalies with rice yield and, to determine the influence of ENSO in climate variability using Sea Surface Temperature indices; in this phase of the research was found that climate patterns in the catchment system exhibited a significant influence by ENSO events with a significance level of 99% (r > 0.7) showing an important dependence of meteorological drought periods presented during the period 1980-2016.
In terms of temporal behavior of rice yield anomalies was revealed moderate correlation coefficients (r < 0.4) in both watersheds due to in most of the cases the response of water deficit did not have significant impact in terms of magnitude as expected; in some periods in which drought period was present categorized as mild-drought, rice yield had a considerable decreasing compared with those in which was categorized as extreme event; these differences can be justified mostly because crop yield depends not only on weather, but also on variety of seed used and its coping capacity to periods of water scarcity, fertilizers, soil moisture, farming techniques, sowing date, temperature, irrigation, use of pesticides etc.
The results of this thesis can be used to motivate future researches in the elaboration of crop models to predict yields based on physiological processes during plant development considering water requirement to take enough measures to mitigate the effects of drought periods. Furthermore, it should be considered to implement a drought monitor system in the area as an important tool of early warning system and as an indicator for the efficient water resources management.
As the number and intensity of environmental challenges increase, more faiths have initiated religiously motivated change within their communities or have been involved in cooperation projects with NGOs or GOs dedicated to conservation. Even though a lot of quantitative research had been done on the correlation of religiosity and concern for the environment, no scientific study dealt about the argumentation lines that drive or discourage believers to get involved in environmental conversation. As a basis for the research the Theory of Planned Behavior of Ajzen was modified into a model. By the means of Semi-Standardized Interview guidelines 15 members and leaders of different church communities in Amman were interrogated to retrieve meaning of and cause-effect-chains between the different components of the model. Their answers were coded and analyzed with cross tables to identify interconnections and their tendencies.
The results show that interviewees’ religious convictions about God and the world were the strongest influencer, whereas the community and leaders rarely gave a reason for people to adapt water saving measures. External factors such as governmental, societal, political or economic mostly discouraged people to adapt environmentfriendly behaviors. Approaches by the GIZ have already started catering to those challenges and potentials, however the range of impact did not reach until most of the interviewees.
Jordan is deemed as one of the least water-endowed regions in the world. The acute water shortage, accompanied with changing climatic conditions have necessitated the increasing use of treated wastewater (TWW), predominantly in irrigated agriculture sector. This is especially true with the upper Zarqa River. The ample supply of TWW resources can be found there; paradoxically, the practical implementation of TWW reuse is hindered by the enforcement of irrigation water quality standard, compounding pressure on the dwindling groundwater resources. In light of the large potential source of TWW, this study aims to supply knowledge on maximizing the safe reuse of TWW while minimizing the environmental impacts within the local environment of the upper Zarqa River. A SWOT analysis was conducted to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of TWW reuse for agriculture in the local context. In recognition of the projected growth in the treated effluent to more than 135 MCM in the coming ten years, and how it would affect the water use on the study region, several plausible development scenarios were proposed based on expected developments on the ground. Considering the vital role of TWW in sustaining multiple ecosystem services, this study addresses the need to review current standard, encourages managed aquifer recharge with TWW, recommends crops type modification, and enhances knowledge on suitable practices at farm level. Each of these factors is needed in order to deliver a range of ecosystem services to sustain the local rural communities and to advance them in the face of profound challenges, thereby leading to its stability and increased productivity.
Located in the Urubamba mountain range, the Chicón glacier is the third highest tropical glacier of this area and the source of water for the Chicón watershed. Moreover, from this watershed four communities obtain water for human consumption and agriculture, which is their main economic activity. In the last years glacier retreat is evident in the area and threatens the livelihoods of the people because it affects the availability of fresh water.
The general objective of this research is to analyse the perception of people living in this watershed to climate change, disaster risk, and ecosystem-based solutions. The specific objectives are to identify natural hazards and climate change effects in the community, to recognise potential ecosystem services suitable for Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) and Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR), and to assess to which climate change effects and disasters the communities are vulnerable based on their own perception. The methodological steps are based on literature review, expert interviews, questionnaires to the community, a workshop and field observations.
The results show that people perceive changes in the climate such as increase in temperature, less precipitation and shifts of the rainy and the dry season. The climate-related disasters that were identified are Glacier Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF), droughts, frosts and hailstorms. However, GLOFs are not frequent in the area and drought is the hazard that people consider will be more frequent. Additionally, pests were identified as biological hazards. Several ecosystems services can be obtained for EbA and Eco-DRR from forests, especially if native trees such as Qiwiña (Polylepis spp.), Chachacoma (Escallonia resinosa) and Aliso (Alnus jorullensis) are used in ecosystem management. Finally, the hypothesis was partially accepted since people in the study area are to some extent aware of climate change impacts, but only partially understand causes and effects. Further, they recognize most of the ecosystem services that forests provide. Therefore they are starting to implement ecosystem-based solutions in the watershed with the support of external institutions.
Based on the idea of sustainable development, the BioTrade principles and criteria (P&C), based on the idea of sustainable development, have been the essential core guiding the implementation of BioTrade activities since their inception by UNCTAD in 2007. However, after identifying that BioTrade of medicinal plants causes negative impacts on the traditional knowledge related to these plants, the P&C were evaluated in light of the most relevant international agreements that contribute to the safeguarding of this knowledge. The result obtained from the assessment showed that the P&C present many gaps that prevent evaluating the real impact of trade on the traditional knowledge of medicinal plants in Indigenous and local communities. Therefore, in the same framework of the current P&C, the main recommendations contained in the international agreements and the suggestions of specialists in the field have been gathered to create a BioTrade standard that contributes to safeguarding traditional medicinal plant knowledge within a commercial context in any BioTrade initiative where the commercialized product is a sacred or native plant with traditional and cultural value for a community.
Elaeis guineensis Jacq. or oil palm is a native species of West Africa. Its oils, extracted from the fruit mesocarp and the kernel are widely used in the food industry, industrial applications, and bioenergy production. Due to its versatility, profitability and growing demand, the global oil palm agroindustry raises concerns regarding deforestation, effects in biodiversity, contamination and related to social issues such as labor conditions, poverty, and social conflicts. In Mexico, the establishment and subsequent growth of the oil palm industry was promoted by past government policies and financial support. In Chiapas the current main producer of the country, the expansion can be also attributed to oil palm resilience to floods, hurricanes, and the economic profitability.
The objective of this study is to evaluate the sustainability status of the oil palm production system within Acapetahua and Villa Comaltitlán Municipalities by analyzing the indicators of sustainability. To achieve this, the Evaluation Framework for Natural Resource Management Systems (MESMIS), was adapted to measure the attributes status of productivity, stability, reliability, resilience, self-management, equity, and adaptability, of the different dimensions of sustainability (environmental, social, political, and economic).
It was identified that MESMIS is an appropriate framework to study oil palm system in Acapetahua and Villa Comaltitlán municipalities. The methodology allowed the identification of critical points, and relevant indicators that include land use and vegetation cover changes, oil palm cashflow, good agricultural practices, farmers´ training, level of participation and farmers´ well-being. As a result, it was identified that vegetation and land use changes were principally from pastures land and previous oil palm plantations, and a positive profitability in the last two years. Soil and water conservation practices are implemented, and farmers have received different trainings principally from social mills, but other good agricultural practices and awareness of social problems should be improved, while the social participation evaluation showed a weak status of the political dimension.
In Sierra Leone, at the moment 10 out of the total 14 districts are faced with the problem of large-scale land investments for industrial agriculture (oil palm, sugarcane…). The production is mainly for the local, regional and world market. There are quite many of these investments in the planning stage, while some are extending their operations by taking more land from communities or are already at the production stage. Studies and media reports have claimed a number of negative impacts felt in communities hosting these companies, ranging from loss of land, food insecurity, increase in poverty to loss of livelihoods, environmental degradation as well as social and cultural problems. The goal of this thesis is to examine the impacts of the operations of “Socfin Agriculture Company” on food security of local communities in Malen Chiefdom, Pujehun District of Sierra Leone.
Both quantitative and qualitative research methods are used for data collection, analyses, and interpretation of results. The research uses household income and expenditure to compare household food security before and after the start of the company’s operations. It examines consequences of community’s loss of land to support household food production versus casual wage earn from employment created by the company to meet household food security.
The results show a loss of household’s income sources and a significant decrease in households’ income. Households’ food crop production has reduced accompanied by a complete loss of cash crop farming. Households affected by the operations of the company have lost access to land and other natural resources that support food production. Furthermore, the company employs very few people in comparison to the total population of affected communities. Calculation of total wage earn from employment by the company cannot meet the staple food (rice) needs of the households. Also, households claimed a host of unfilled promises made by the company and national government at the onset of the operations of the company.
In conclusion, household food production is the most significant determinant for household food security, with regards to food availability, accessibility, utilization and stability of supply. Therefore, national government should carefully study and develop a framework that addresses food security of households impacted by the operations of the rapidly growing large-scale land investment companies and ensure a fair share of the local community in the economic development of the country and suggesting ways of improving access rights in the context of tenure.