Reclamation and planting of spoiled lands
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Date
1997-02-28
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Abstract
Recently, awareness has developed that the world’s resources are not infinite. In many countries there is now a concern to protect the raw materials on which life depends. Perhaps the most basic resource of all is the land. So laws and regulations are being passed to prevent further destruction of land. For the last two to three decades the rate of exploitation and destruction of the land has increased to alarming proportions. But land is not a simple commodity that can be stored or replaced, destroyed and remade, or even recycled in exactly the same way as manufactured goods. It is a complex biological system built up over long periods of time. If it has to be reclaimed then one need to understand how it functions and also the problems associated with the different wastes which are dumped on it; and the extent to which it has been exploited; so that reclamation can be done effectively to enable the land to be used afterwards. Land has to be seen as a resource which can be used for one purpose and then subsequently for another; that is, a resource which can be recycled.
This report analyses some of these wastes and their associated problems on the land and the possible ways to reclaim such land so that it can be re-used.
To avoid any future dereliction, it has been recommended that mining companies engage the services of environmental and landscape consultants as professional advisers to take care of such problems very early so that their operations do not leave the land derelict.
It has also been recommended that policies be instituted by government to ensure that before any planning permission is granted, all industries should draw up a reclamation and utilization programme.
The above recommendations and others listed in this write up, when pursued, will do away with future dereliction and thereby enable land to be wisely used or held in trust for future generation.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Board of Postgraduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the Degree of Master of Science in Landscape Studies, 1997