Institute for Natural Resources in Africa

Illegal small-scale mining (galamsey) in South-Western Ghana has grown tremendously in the last decade and caused significant environmental degradation. Excessive cloud cover in the area has limited the use of optical remote sensing data to map and monitor the extent of these activities. This study investigated the use of annual time-series Sentinel-1 data to map and monitor illegal mining activities along major rivers in South-Western Ghana between 2015 and 2019. A change detection approach, based on three time-series features—minimum, mean, maximum—was used to compute a backscatter threshold value suitable to identify/detect mining-induced land cover changes in the study area. Compared to the mean and maximum, the minimum time-series feature (in both VH and VV polarization) was found to be more sensitive to changes in backscattering within the period of investigation. Our approach permitted the detection of new illegal mining areas on an annual basis. A backscatter threshold value of +1.65 dB was found suitable for detecting illegal mining activities in the study area. Application of this threshold revealed illegal mining area extents of 102 km2, 60 km2 and 33 km2 for periods 2015/2016–2016/2017, 2016/2017–2017/2018 and 2017/2018–2018/2019, respectively. The observed decreasing trend in new illegal mining areas suggests that efforts at stopping illegal mining yielded positive results in the period investigated. Despite the advantages of Synthetic Aperture Radar data in monitoring phenomena in cloud-prone areas, our analysis revealed that about 25% of the Sentinel-1 data, mostly acquired in March and October (beginning and end of rainy season respectively), were unusable due to atmospheric effects from high intensity rainfall events. Further investigation in other geographies and climatic regions is needed to ascertain the susceptibility of Sentinel-1 data to atmospheric conditions.

Abstract Africa, like other regions of the world, is concerned with the question of the green economy, which is increasingly seen as a real alternative to the current economic growth model. The desire to ensure both strong economic growths while wasting fewer natural resources and respecting the environment requires African countries to adopt new business practices. The adoption of eco-initiatives opens gaps for economic operators who wish to see their activities grow sustainably. At the same time, these green initiatives create challenges. This raises the question of what are the factors of the emergence of the green economy in Africa, a question that the literature has hardly addressed. This book contributes primarily to understanding the conditions for the success of the green economy in African countries. Through a comparative analysis of select African countries, this book identifies the obstacles to ownership of eco-initiatives in Africa and highlights the opportunities the green economy offers. This introductory chapter aims to present the context of the advent of eco-initiatives, the challenges and opportunities of this transition for Africa, the purpose of this book and its importance, the rationale for the approach adopted by this book and the contribution of case studies conducted in select African countries.KeywordsGreen businessesEco-InitiativesSmall and medium enterprises (SMEs)ChallengesOpportunitiesNatural resourcesAfrica

It is argued that China’s relationship with Africa has transformed into one defined by a dynamism and African agency, thereby lessening the hold the former previously had on Africa in the early days of this evolving alliance. First, the authors will conduct a literature review of historical Sino–African relations, from the early Han dynasty to its contemporary manifestations. The second section will continue with this analysis by focusing exclusively on the status quo of the Sino–African economic relationship, including analysis of trade flows, investments, development, economic cooperation, and Chinese support for regional integration. Finally, this paper will conclude with an elaboration of some key, emerging relationship areas, such as opportunities for China and Africa to collaborate on the achievement of the latter’s Agenda 2063 and African Mining Vision.

Abstract Technical change, through the introduction of land-enhancing conservation technologies, is essential to economic growth in the Sahel. Tobit analysis was used to identify factors that motivate level and intensity of adoption of specific soil and water management technologies. The results show that higher percentage of degraded farmland, extension education, lower risk aversion, and the availability of short-term profits are important for increasing the adoption and intensity of use of improved `tassa' and half-crescent shaped earthen mounds. Age and attitudes to differential gains between farm and non-farm income showed no influence on adoption. Three main policy implications emerge from these findings. First, technologies should be targeted to locations that have large percentages of degraded farmlands. The probability of adoption and intensity of use are likely to be high at such locations. Second, there is the need to provide extension education that demonstrates risk reduction capacities of conservation techniques. This will make available information capable of stimulating adoption of land-enhancing technologies. Finally, policy-makers should not seek to target innovations to younger farmers because age has no relationship to adoption of the improved `tassa' and half-crescent shaped earthen mounds. Lessons from the case study have broad relevance to cropped areas in the Sahel.