Impacts of Gold Mining on Rangeland Vegetation and Local Communities in Al-Sobag Area, Gedarif State, Sudan

Abstract

This study was conducted in Al-Sobag area at Gedarif State-Sudan in October 2018. The study aimed to assess the impacts of gold mining on rangeland vegetation and socio-economic aspects of local communities. The study area was chosen as a range site representing these rangelands affected by gold mining. Two range sites were selected (Site A) that affected by gold mining activities and (Site B) did not affected in the same zone. Each site was divided into four plots were selected randomly. Four lines transects with a specific angles used compass at each range site, to estimate vegetation attributes and soil seed bank. The socio-economic data were collected through general survey, observations and questionnaire. Four villages namely (Al-Bougaa- Al-Rbdaa Abogola and Al-Tokoon) were selected randomly from the total villages surrounding the mined sites. A total of 60 Households randomly selected which constituted about 10% of the total number of households in these villages, which approximately about (600) families. Data were analyzed for vegetation attributes; organized, tabulated and analyzed using standard range measurements equations. All data tested by statistical analysis by using (SAS) program using (ANOVA) and Duncan procedure, to compare differences in vegetation attribute and seed bank in the two areas. The socio-economic data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software (Ver. 20.0) by computing descriptive statistics. The main findings of this study according to the vegetation attributes showed that there were significant differences between percentages of ground cover in terms of bare soil, rocks, litter and plant cover in the location close to the mining activities, there are increased in the proportion of bare soil (56.37%) compared to the plant cover (2.25%).While there are no significant differences between the components of ground cover in the range site which is far from the mining area. Beside that the affected range site by gold mining activities was recorded the same percentage of live and dead seeds (50%), while the unaffected range site was recorded (31.6%) and (68.4%) for live and dead seeds respectively. The findings of socio-economic aspects results indicated that about of (58.3%) respondents within the active mining sites agreed that there are negative impacts of gold mining exploitations on soil of rangeland. Also the study revealed that about (95%) of respondents agreed that gold mining activities affected negatively on the animal correlated the problems facing livestock and (85%) they said that the mining exploitation had impacted negatively in human health. The study concludes that the increase of bare soil percentage, vegetation cover retrogression and decrease biomass productivity and range carrying capacity in the study range sites were main range condition x indicators of the impact of gold mining in these rangelands. The majority of respondents (61.7%) said the rangelands were deteriorated after gold mining appeared in Al-Sobag area. Therefore, the study recommends that: The implementation and integration of best practices for environmentally responsible extraction of gold from mining sites could also reduce the adverse effects of artesian gold mining on natural resources. Rehabilitation efforts are required to overcome the impacts of gold mining activities on sustainable range land management, and reseeding the range sites with the desirable plant species