Environmental implications of high metal content in soils of a titanium mining zone in Kenya

Mining activities contribute to an increase of specific metal contaminants in soils. This may adversely affect plant life and consequently impact on animal and human health. The objective of this study was to obtain the background metal concentrations in soils around the titanium mining in Kwale County for monitoring its environmental impacts. Forty samples were obtained with half from topsoils and the other from subsoils. X-ray fluorescence spectrometry was used to determine the metal content of the soil samples. High concentrations of Ti, Mn, Fe, and Zr were observed where Ti concentrations ranged from 0.47 to 2.8 %; Mn 0.02 to 3.1 %; Fe 0.89 to 3.1 %; and Zr 0.05 to 0.85 %. Using ratios of elemental concentrations in topsoil to subsoil method and enrichment factors concept, the metals were observed to be of geogenic origin with no anthropogenic input. The high concentrations of Mn and Fe may increase their concentration levels in the surrounding agricultural lands through deposition, thereby causing contamination on the land and the cultivated food crops. The latter can cause adverse human health effects. In addition, titanium mining will produce tailings containing low-level titanium concentrations, which will require proper disposal to avoid increasing titanium concentrations in the soils of the region since it has been observed to be phytotoxic to plants at high concentrations. The results of this study will serve as reference while monitoring the environmental impact by the titanium mining activities. © 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Air quality and human health

Dust exposure is thus far little recognized as a threat to the health of people in the drylands of Eastern Africa. Trees planted in the areas of origin of the dust and around human settlements have the potential to reduce exposure to dust, and therefore health gains are possibly achievable through trees. Policies promoting such health gains are currently absent, and this section argues what would need to be done to convince pol – icy makers on the need to invest in trees to improve human health in the drylands of Eastern Africa. Dust also stresses livestock, upon which the nutrition and livelihoods of populations in Eastern Africa’s drylands largely depend hence affecting their health. Exposure to dust is a threat to human health because, when dust is inhaled, it causes a range of respiratory diseases, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumonia [236]. Dust also impairs visibility for both humans and livestock and is a transportation safety concern. Surprisingly, little attention has been paid to the health effects of dust exposure in Africa

Ecosystem health, ecosystem services, and the well-being of humans and the rest of nature

An ecosystem is healthy if it is active, maintains its organization and autonomy over time, and is resilient to stress. Healthy ecosystems provide human well-being via ecosystem services, which are produced in interaction with human, social, and built capital. These services are affected by different ecosystem stewardship schemes. Therefore, society should be aiming for ecosystem health stewardship at all levels to maintain and improve ecosystem services. We review the relationship between ecosystem health and ecosystem services, based on a logic chain framework starting with (1) a development or conservation policy, (2) a management decision or origin of the driver of change, (3) the driver of change itself, (4) the change in ecosystem health, (5) the change in the provision of ecosystem services, and (6) the change in their value to humans. We review two case studies to demonstrate the application of this framework. We analyzed 6,131 records from the Ecosystem Services Valuation Database (ESVD) and found that in approximately 58% of the records data on ecosystem health were lacking. Finally, we describe how the United Nations’ System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) incorporates ecosystem health as part of efforts to account for natural capital appreciation or depreciation at the national level. We also provide recommendations for improving this system.

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