Understanding environment-health linkages in rehabilitation plans: the issue of fruit trees for community plantations
Rehabilitation of mined out areas is a major issue in sustainable development of mining. Revegetation is one of the processes used for rehabilitation. Increasingly, as attention is focused on beneficial land uses, there is a trend in adopting and advocating revegetation which is useful to the local community. Our focus group research in Phase II also indicated that local communities would like to grow fruit trees on mine dumps both for consumption and for the market. However, there is inadequate research on the possible health implications of such measures with regard to the potential for metal uptake by fruits gown on iron ore dumps.
The methodology to assess the environmental-health implications of community relevant rehabilitation programmes will involve three stages:
1 A review of vegetation currently grown on various mine reject dumps/ tailings ponds in selected watersheds of the mining belt by (a) types of crops and b) local use or potential use by local communities. Field visits and a survey will be conducted in order to get these inputs.
2 For dumps where fruit bearing trees are grown , the following research is proposed
§ Estimation of iron content in soil
§ Estimation of iron uptake by fruits
§ Estimation of other metals such as manganese, nickel, and zinc in the soil system.
3. With the information obtained from these studies, using focus groups and interviews of key informants, different alternative uses and types of fruits or edible crops that could be potential candidates for dump revegetation will be identified. The relative costs and benefits of these alternatives will be examined from a community perspective.
Results of this study will indicate the presence, if any, of metal content in the fruits from trees grown on overburden dumps. These findings will evaluate the possibility of using mine reject dumps to grow fruit trees in iron ore mining regions. This study will help us guide community dump management more responsibly.
The methodology to assess the environmental-health implications of community relevant rehabilitation programmes will involve three stages:
1 A review of vegetation currently grown on various mine reject dumps/ tailings ponds in selected watersheds of the mining belt by (a) types of crops and b) local use or potential use by local communities. Field visits and a survey will be conducted in order to get these inputs.
2 For dumps where fruit bearing trees are grown , the following research is proposed
§ Estimation of iron content in soil
§ Estimation of iron uptake by fruits
§ Estimation of other metals such as manganese, nickel, and zinc in the soil system.
3. With the information obtained from these studies, using focus groups and interviews of key informants, different alternative uses and types of fruits or edible crops that could be potential candidates for dump revegetation will be identified. The relative costs and benefits of these alternatives will be examined from a community perspective.
Results of this study will indicate the presence, if any, of metal content in the fruits from trees grown on overburden dumps. These findings will evaluate the possibility of using mine reject dumps to grow fruit trees in iron ore mining regions. This study will help us guide community dump management more responsibly.