Authors:Leonard L. Tampushi, John M. Onyari, Nzioka J. Muthama Pages: 1 - 16 Abstract: Artisanal and small-scale gold mining imparts on economic development more significantly in developing countries, but it is also responsible for serious environmental deterioration and human health concerns. Despite, the robust environmental legislations focused at mitigating the pernicious environmental and human health effects, little attention has been given to integration of environmental sustainability concepts into these regulations. This paper aims at addressing this gap by utilizing a systematic literature review methodology to analyze regulatory gaps and identify areas for improvement for integration of sustainable development. This study employed a systematic review designed to identify published scholarly studies on artisanal gold mining regulations for their effectiveness on environmental sustainability in the ASGM sector. A total of 159 papers were retrieved from the selected databases, 41 passed the inclusion criteria after a conscientious data analysis forming the evidence synthesis. After a rigorous data analysis, we find that the existing literature on ASGM regulations, largely do not systematically integrate critical issues of environmental sustainability. We found that, the regulations have concentrated on effects of chemicals such as mercury and cyanide mining technologies to minimize pollution and environmental assessments, while at the same time failing to address regulatory components of social issues, lack environmental incentives for the poor miners to improve production, lack of alternative technologies, lack of social securities, economic incentives and relevant trainings and awareness creation on health and safety which will continue to motivate unsustainable operations. It is thus strongly proposed that environmental sustainability concepts should be systematically and simultaneously integrated into ASGM regulations and policies in order to promote community livelihoods while protecting the environment from its rudimentary activities. The existing literature on ASGM regulations is unsystematic and inconsistent with most of it failing to fully address environmental sustainability challenges PubDate: 2021-09-30 DOI: 10.9734/ajee/2021/v16i430253
Authors:T. A. Balogun, M. O. Adamu, T. Alaga, J. E. Adewoyin, S. A. Ajisafe, S. Nuhu Pages: 17 - 31 Abstract: Flood is a natural event that cause varying degree of losses despite initiatives to mitigate its impact. As the drive to retore normalcy in flood riddle areas increases, concerns about the vulnerability of areas in relation to households’ responses to flood has emerged. This study therefore, identified areas vulnerable to flood; elicit households’ sociodemographic attributes and examine their level of preparedness to flood in Ogunpa and Oni River Basin. A GIS-based approach was adopted along with 121 well-structured questionnaires administered to the respondents. A multi-criteria analysis (that considers slope, rainfall, soil type, DEM and NDVI was adopted), descriptive statistic and binary logistic model was used to achieve the objectives. The results from the vulnerability map revealed varying vulnerability status across Ogunpa and Oni River Basin. In addition, the sociodemographic statistics revealed important variables that influences household decision to prepare for flood. It was also known that factors that drive households to prepare for flood vary across households in Ogunpa and Oni River Basin. The study recommends enlightenment campaign on proper refuse disposal, strengthening of environmental regulatory agency, adoption of participatory approach in the buildup of environmental policy and increasing the level of awareness on the need for insurance policy that covers household against disaster such as flood. PubDate: 2021-09-30 DOI: 10.9734/ajee/2021/v16i430254
Authors:Dada Ibilewa, Mustapha Aliyu, Usman O. Alalu, Taiwo Hassan Abdulrasheed Pages: 32 - 40 Abstract: Urban Growth and its Impact on Urban land cover change in Akure South Local Government area was investigated to bridge the knowledge gap created by data deficiency on the nature, scope, and magnitude of urban threat on the land use/land cover type, most especially the agricultural land in the area. This was done through the analysis of Landsat images of three epochs from 2000 through 2010 to 2020. The processing of the satellite images was done in ArcGIS 10.8, while the analysis and 2030 projection were done in Microsoft office excel using the result from the analysis. QGIS was used to remove the scan lines error on the 2010 image. The result showed increasing urban growth (built-up area), reducing vegetation and farmlands, and increasing rock outcrops. The changes vary among the different classification characteristics. Both farmlands and vegetation increased in the first epoch and reduced in the second epoch due to man's urbanization and other socio-economic activities. The increasing change in the second epoch was higher in built-up areas while rock outcrops increased throughout the study period. The research was able to assess the magnitude of farmland and vegetation that have been converted for urban uses over time. It also proved the efficiency of Remote Sensing and GIS technology in urban growth studies. PubDate: 2021-10-12 DOI: 10.9734/ajee/2021/v16i430255
Open Access journal
[66 journals]
