Deforestation in forest-savannah transition zone of Ghana: Boabeng-Fiema monkey sanctuary

Forests provide many resources, ecosystem services and absorb carbon dioxide, which helps in climate regulation. In spite of the enormous benefits of forests, the issue of deforestation is still ongoing. There has been a continuous decline in forests globally and the forest area of Boabeng Fiema Monkey Sanctuary (BFMS) in Ghana is facing a similar threat. The aim of the study is to determine the different forest cover types and changes in the forest of BFMS. Satellite images for the years 1992, 1998, 2004, 2010, 2016 and 2018 were downloaded. Unsupervised and supervised classification were performed to determine the different forest cover types and remote sensing software was used to detect the changes in the forest cover. The forest cover was classified into six classes; closed forest, open forest, savannah woodland, savannah, farmlands and built-up area. Available data suggests that between 1992 and 2018, closed forest decreased by 242.19ha, open forest increased by 122.85 ha, savannah woodland increased by 7.47ha, savannah increased by 6.48 ha, farmland increased by 39.39ha and built-up area increased by 65.7ha. The changes in closed forest, open forest, farmland and built-up were all significant. Decreasing forest cover of BFMS is a threat to sustainable ecotourism since the forest serves as a habitat and food source to the monkeys. This research serves as guide to other researches aiming at determining forest cover changes in forest-savannah transition zones. In addition, the results have produced an inventory of the forest, which will help forest resource managers sustainably manage the forest

Anthropogenic Sources and Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Mine Soils: A Case Study of Bontesso in Amansie West District of Ghana

Contamination of the environmental receptors with heavy metals due to mining is a major topical environmental issue in Ghana. This research investigates the possible ecological and human health risks of heavy metal impacts due to mining in the Amansie West District in Ghana. A total of 18 soil samples were taken from the Bontesso illegal mining site in the district and analyzed for the levels of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). From principal component analysis, cluster analysis, and correlation coefficient analysis, the metals are derived from multiple sources, with substantial levels of correlations. Using geo-accumulation index (Igeo), contamination factor (CF), degree of contamination (Cd), pollution load index (PLI), ecological risk index (Er), and noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risks, respectively, the impacts of As (12.2 mg/kg) and Cd (1.3 mg/kg) are above the WHO stipulated limit. Findings for pollution indices indicate moderate contamination, while HQ  1. Based on the USEPA standard, the carcinogenic risk of the pollutants for humans is higher than the range of 1 × 10−6 to 1 × 10−4. Furthermore, the ingestion route represents the highest contributor to cancer risk with arsenic posing the greatest risk. The results so far suggest that chemical components gradually accumulate and thus emphasize the importance of implementing the necessary mitigation methods to minimize the impacts of illegal mining activities in the study area

Molten salt synthesis of nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon from plantain peels for high-performance supercapacitor

© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. This work employs a non-corrosive and non-toxic molten salt combination of NaCl and KCl as an activationagent in an air environment to synthesize nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon from plantain peels at800 degrees C for supercapacitor application. Due to the synergistic effect of nitrogen doping, the synthesized nitro-gen-doped activated unripe porous carbon (AUPN) has a hierarchical (micro-meso-macropores) porous struc-ture and a high surface area of 959 m2/g, providing sufficient active sites for charge storage, rapid electrolyteand ionic mobility. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy analysis revealed the formation of a carbon pro-duct with a limited degree of graphitization and the crystallite size (La), which is valuable for evaluating thedefects caused by nitrogen doping. In a three-electrode cell with a 6 M KOH electrolyte, AUPN recorded a speci-fic capacitance of 550 F/g at 1 A/g. After 1000 cycles, capacitance retention was 99% at 4 A/g. Compared toother reported porous carbon materials, the overall electrochemical performance of AUPN is superior. This isdue to the abundant nitrogen-doping, which introduces pseudocapacitance and increases the surface wettabil-ity of the porous carbon, resulting in a decrease in ionic-transport resistance.Thesefindings indicate that this green and scalable technique is a potential synthesis method for producingporous carbon materials for energy storage applications.11Nsciescopu