Tracing and Determining the Duration of Illegal Sand Mining in Specific River Channels in the Limpopo Province

Artisanal and Small-scale river sand mining is one of the upcoming activities associated with the environmental crisis concerning the water ecosystem. However, the determination of the duration in which illegal sand mining has occurred, and the future prediction on the extent of river sand mining is not well-established in most of the world. This study aimed to assess the extent of river sand mining activities across some of the catchments in Limpopo province, South Africa and understand the sustainable extraction of sand resources. This was followed by the determination of when sand mining activities commenced in each of the individual catchments. Thus, remote sensing was applied to predict the extent of river sand mining from the year 1992 to 2022, and statistical prediction models were utilised to predict the extent of sand mining for the next 10 years. The results of the study suggest that most of the catchments started to experience illegal sand mining activities from the year 1992, though the extraction was relatively low. Equally, a decrease in vegetation coverage across the river system has been evidenced, which also suggests that the extraction of sand and gravel has been elevated from the year 2010. In terms of the prediction model, the Turfloop River system was predicted to experience a large extraction ratio in the coming 10 years, with about 92.415 ha of land expected to be affected. Meanwhile, the Molototsi River system was denoted to be the least affected river system, with a reduced extraction ratio of about 6.57 ha expected in the next 10 years’ time

Quantitative datasets reveal marked gender disparities in Earth Sciences faculty rank in Africa

As in most disciplines of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM), gender disparity is prevalent in the ranking of Earth Sciences faculties at senior and advanced levels. (i.e., Associate and Full Professors). In this study, a robust database was mined, created, and analyzed to assess the faculty compositions of 142 Earth Science departments in 39 countries across Africa. The data were collected from verifiable online resources focusing on ranks and gender ratios within each department. The studied earth science departments cut across universities in northern, southern, central, eastern, and western Africa. Our data revealed that female faculty members are predominantly underrepresented in most of the departments documented and are markedly uncommon in senior positions such as Professors, associate Professors, and senior researchers compared to their male counterparts. On the contrary, female faculty members are predominant in the lower cadres, such as lecturers, teaching, and graduate assistants. The observed male to female ratio is 4:1. At the base of this gender gap is the lower enrolment of female students in Earth Science courses from undergraudate to graduate studies. To achieve gender equality in Earth Science faculty composition in Africa, we recommend increasing female students’ enrollment, mentoring, awareness, timely promotion of accomplished female researchers, and formulation of enabling government policies. More work-related policies that guarantee work-life balance for female earth science academic professionals should be formulated to attract and retain more women into Earth Sciences careers