Advances in Phytochemistry, Textile and Renewable Energy Research for
Industrial Growth – Nzila et al. (Eds)
© 2022 Copyright the Author(s), ISBN: 978-1-032-11871-0
Open Access: www.taylorfrancis.com, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
Africa’s need for a technological approach to monitor pollutions from
mining activities
A. Antwiwaa
All Nations University, Ghana
R. Damoah
Morgan State University, MD, USA
N.K. Gerrar
Cape Coast Technical University, Ghana
J.N. Quansah
ANU-SSTL, Ghana
ABSTRACT: Africa hosts the largest mineral industry in the world and most of these mining countries operate
with an unregulated environmental impact. The impact of mining operations touches on the principal elements of
the environment affecting the implementation of the SDGs. Air quality is severely degraded by mining through
putting a large quantity of dust into the atmosphere. This research seeks to analyze the impact of mining activities
on the environment by considering three different mining sites from Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania by employing
the services of the dataset from the NASA Giovanni System. We have used time series analysis of PM 2.5 from the
NASA Giovanni System that spans the years before and during the mining activities at our study sites to determine
the pollution levels and the health issues involved. The results obtained show that there was a significant increase
in pollution level over time at all the mining sites. This work proposes an Internet of Things (IoT)-based solution
to help the environmental protection agencies effectively monitor the pollution level from mining activities.
1 INTRODUCTION
Mining plays a significant role in the development
of the economy in most countries in Africa. It contributes to about 9.1% of Ghana’s gross domestic
product (GDP) (Awudi 2002) and provides jobs to
about 300,000 people according to the Ghana Statistical Services (2015). It also contributes 1% of the GDP
of Kenya (Kenya Mining Investment Handbook 2016)
and 3.5% of Tanzania GDP (Ecofin Agency 2020).
Alongside the importance of mining to socioeconomic
growth, mining activities have a serious effect on the
environment and human health. There are two main
types of mining, strip mining and underground mining. In Africa, most of the large-scale mining is strip
mining.The impact of mining operations inAfrica both
from the large- and small-scale mining touches on the
principal elements of the environment (i.e., land, water,
and air). Large tracts of land for farming activities have
been acquired by mining companies for large-scale
surface mining operations, depriving the communities
of their source of livelihood and leading to large-scale
deforestation as well as causing atmospheric conditions to deteriorate rapidly over time (Kulkami &
Zambare 2018; Parmer, Lakhani, & Chattopadhyay
2017)
The deterioration of the atmospheric conditions
leads to ozone layer depletion. Apart from the hazardous effect it has on the environment, pollution has
an adverse effect on human health, leading to diseases
like lung cancer, stroke, heart diseases, etc. (WHO
2018). Rout, Karuturi and Padmini (2018) stated that
about 7 million deaths every year are caused by polluted air and about 90% of the world’s population does
not have access to clean air. The majority of the pollution is from industry and the mining sector. This
research seeks to analyze the impact of mining activities on the environment by considering three different
mining sites from Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania by
employing time series analysis of PM 2.5 derived from
the NASA Giovanni System. An area average time
series spanning the years before the mining companies
were established up to 2020 was used to determine the
pollution levels and the health issues involved.
The Environmental Protection Agency in Ghana
visits the mining sites quarterly to measure the amount
of pollution produced by these sites. Most of these
sites are in remote areas. The monitoring is done
44
DOI 10.1201/9781003221968-6
Industrial Growth – Nzila et al. (Eds)
© 2022 Copyright the Author(s), ISBN: 978-1-032-11871-0
Open Access: www.taylorfrancis.com, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license
Africa’s need for a technological approach to monitor pollutions from
mining activities
A. Antwiwaa
All Nations University, Ghana
R. Damoah
Morgan State University, MD, USA
N.K. Gerrar
Cape Coast Technical University, Ghana
J.N. Quansah
ANU-SSTL, Ghana
ABSTRACT: Africa hosts the largest mineral industry in the world and most of these mining countries operate
with an unregulated environmental impact. The impact of mining operations touches on the principal elements of
the environment affecting the implementation of the SDGs. Air quality is severely degraded by mining through
putting a large quantity of dust into the atmosphere. This research seeks to analyze the impact of mining activities
on the environment by considering three different mining sites from Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania by employing
the services of the dataset from the NASA Giovanni System. We have used time series analysis of PM 2.5 from the
NASA Giovanni System that spans the years before and during the mining activities at our study sites to determine
the pollution levels and the health issues involved. The results obtained show that there was a significant increase
in pollution level over time at all the mining sites. This work proposes an Internet of Things (IoT)-based solution
to help the environmental protection agencies effectively monitor the pollution level from mining activities.
1 INTRODUCTION
Mining plays a significant role in the development
of the economy in most countries in Africa. It contributes to about 9.1% of Ghana’s gross domestic
product (GDP) (Awudi 2002) and provides jobs to
about 300,000 people according to the Ghana Statistical Services (2015). It also contributes 1% of the GDP
of Kenya (Kenya Mining Investment Handbook 2016)
and 3.5% of Tanzania GDP (Ecofin Agency 2020).
Alongside the importance of mining to socioeconomic
growth, mining activities have a serious effect on the
environment and human health. There are two main
types of mining, strip mining and underground mining. In Africa, most of the large-scale mining is strip
mining.The impact of mining operations inAfrica both
from the large- and small-scale mining touches on the
principal elements of the environment (i.e., land, water,
and air). Large tracts of land for farming activities have
been acquired by mining companies for large-scale
surface mining operations, depriving the communities
of their source of livelihood and leading to large-scale
deforestation as well as causing atmospheric conditions to deteriorate rapidly over time (Kulkami &
Zambare 2018; Parmer, Lakhani, & Chattopadhyay
2017)
The deterioration of the atmospheric conditions
leads to ozone layer depletion. Apart from the hazardous effect it has on the environment, pollution has
an adverse effect on human health, leading to diseases
like lung cancer, stroke, heart diseases, etc. (WHO
2018). Rout, Karuturi and Padmini (2018) stated that
about 7 million deaths every year are caused by polluted air and about 90% of the world’s population does
not have access to clean air. The majority of the pollution is from industry and the mining sector. This
research seeks to analyze the impact of mining activities on the environment by considering three different
mining sites from Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania by
employing time series analysis of PM 2.5 derived from
the NASA Giovanni System. An area average time
series spanning the years before the mining companies
were established up to 2020 was used to determine the
pollution levels and the health issues involved.
The Environmental Protection Agency in Ghana
visits the mining sites quarterly to measure the amount
of pollution produced by these sites. Most of these
sites are in remote areas. The monitoring is done
44
DOI 10.1201/9781003221968-6