Indirect impacts of commercial gold mining on adjacent ecosystems

Seki, Hamidu; Thorn, Jessica P. R.; Platts, Philip J.; Shirima, Deo D.; Marchant, Robert; Abeid, Yahya; Baker, Neil R.; Annandale, Mark; Marshall, Andrew R.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109782

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Indirect mining impact beyond the mining lease boundary is much more difficult to quantify and only a few studies on this topic have been published to date [e.g., ( 21 – 23 ), Fig. 1 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Threat of mining to African great apes

Junker,

Quoss,

Valdez

et al. 2024

Sci. Adv.

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The rapid growth of clean energy technologies is driving a rising demand for critical minerals. In 2022 at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), seven major economies formed an alliance to enhance the sustainability of mining these essential decarbonization minerals. However, there is a scarcity of studies assessing the threat of mining to global biodiversity. By integrating a global mining dataset with great ape density distribution, we estimated the number of African great apes that spatially coincided with industrial mining projects. We show that up to one-third of Africa’s great ape population faces mining-related risks. In West Africa in particular, numerous mining areas overlap with fragmented ape habitats, often in high-density ape regions. For 97% of mining areas, no ape survey data are available, underscoring the importance of increased accessibility to environmental data within the mining sector to facilitate research into the complex interactions between mining, climate, biodiversity, and sustainability.

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“…Indirect mining impact beyond the mining lease boundary is much more difficult to quantify and only a few studies on this topic have been published to date [e.g., ( 21 – 23 ), Fig. 1 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Threat of mining to African great apes

Junker,

Quoss,

Valdez

et al. 2024

Sci. Adv.

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“…Endemism, evolutionary potential, extractive industries, habitat loss, indirect impacts, mineral resource governance, phylogenetic diversity, phylogeography, species richness mammals in Ghana (Owusu et al, 2018), and above-ground carbon, stem density and tree and butterfly richness in Tanzania (Seki et al, 2022). At regional scales, factoring in the indirect impacts of mining, Sonter et al (2022) show substantial mining regions in Brazil overlap with high diversity mammal habitats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the extensive deforestation footprints linked to mining, considering biodiversity risks beyond direct mine footprints is crucial for estimating the complete suite of potential impacts mining operations encompass. Several studies have begun to reveal the negative consequences of mining for biodiversity beyond lease boundaries at local scales, such as for primates and other medium‐to‐large‐bodied mammals in Ghana (Owusu et al, 2018), and above‐ground carbon, stem density and tree and butterfly richness in Tanzania (Seki et al, 2022). At regional scales, factoring in the indirect impacts of mining, Sonter et al (2022) show substantial mining regions in Brazil overlap with high diversity mammal habitats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple facets of biodiversity are threatened by mining‐induced land‐use change in the Brazilian Amazon

Lloyd

Oliveira

Soares‐Filho

et al. 2023

Diversity and Distributions

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AimMining is increasingly pressuring areas of critical importance for biodiversity conservation, such as the Brazilian Amazon. Biodiversity data are limited in the tropics, restricting the scope for risks to be appropriately estimated before mineral licensing decisions are made. As the distributions and range sizes of other taxa differ markedly from those of vertebrates—the common proxy for analysis of risk to biodiversity from mining—whether mining threatens lesser‐studied taxonomic groups differentially at a regional scale is unclear.LocationBrazilian Amazon.MethodsWe assess risks to several facets of biodiversity from industrial mining by comparing mining areas (within 70 km of an active mining lease) and areas unaffected by mining, employing species richness, species endemism, phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic endemism metrics calculated for angiosperms, arthropods and vertebrates.ResultsMining areas contained higher densities of species occurrence records than the unaffected landscape, and we accounted for this sampling bias in our analyses. None of the four biodiversity metrics differed between mining and nonmining areas for vertebrates. For arthropods, species endemism was greater in mined areas. Mined areas also had greater angiosperm species richness, phylogenetic diversity and phylogenetic endemism, although less species endemism than unmined areas.Main ConclusionsUnlike for vertebrates, facets of angiosperm and arthropod diversity are relatively higher in areas of mining activity, underscoring the need to consider multiple taxonomic groups and biodiversity facets when assessing risk and evaluating management options for mining threats. Particularly concerning is the proximity of mining to areas supporting deep evolutionary history, which may be impossible to recover or replace. As pressures to expand mining in the Amazon grow, impact assessments with broader taxonomic reach and metric focus will be vital to conserving biodiversity in mining regions.

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“…Indirect mining impact beyond the mining lease boundary is much more difficult to quantify and only a few studies on this topic have been published to date (e.g., (21)(22)(23), Figure 1). In 2017, Sonter and her colleagues demonstrated that large scale industrial mining operations caused significant deforestation over time and up to 70 km from mining lease boundaries in Brazil's Amazon Forest.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some of these countries, the authors found high statistical significance for mining driving deforestation in the surrounding areas up to 50 km outside the mining areas. This is largely ascribed to in-migration of people and induced access resulting in an increased demand for land, charcoal, fuelwood, and roads ( 23 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Threat of mining to African great apes

Junker,

Quoss,

Valdez

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The rapid growth of clean energy technologies is driving a rising demand for critical minerals. In 2022 at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15), seven major economies formed an alliance to enhance the sustainability of mining these essential decarbonization minerals. However, there is a scarcity of studies assessing the threat of mining to global biodiversity. By integrating a global mining dataset with ape density distribution estimates, we explored the potential negative impact of industrial mining on African great apes. Our findings reveal that up to one-third of Africa's great ape population faces mining-related risks. This is especially pronounced in West Africa, where numerous mining areas overlap with fragmented ape habitats, often occurring in high-density ape regions. For 97% of mining areas, no ape survey data are available, underscoring the importance of increased accessibility to environmental data within the mining sector to facilitate research into the complex interactions between mining, climate, biodiversity and sustainability.

show abstract

Indirect impacts of commercial gold mining on adjacent ecosystems

Cited by 8 publications

References 76 publications

Threat of mining to African great apes

Threat of mining to African great apes

Multiple facets of biodiversity are threatened by mining‐induced land‐use change in the Brazilian Amazon

Threat of mining to African great apes

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