Rapid urbanization has increased demand for sand in the construction industry to meet housing and infrastructure needs of urban population. The Dallung-Kukuo catchment of the White Volta River Basin is a major sand mining site for the construction industry in Tamale and other peri-urban communities. On the contrary, the river serves as a major source of water supply to the population. Riparian vegetation is essential to water protection, but research has focused extensively on the impact of sand mining on water quality in the river basin. The present study employed GIS and remote sensing techniques coupled with in-situ vegetation sampling to assess riparian land cover changes from 1990 to 2021. Land cover images of the catchment revealed a 14.9% increase in sand mining area, while river bed area and woodland cover decreased by 0.7% and 20%, respectively, from 1990 to 2021. A comparison of woody plant diversity also showed a higher Shannon diversity index in the unmined area of the riparian zone (3.0) compared to the sand mining area (2.0). Environmental Protection Agency and traditional authorities should intensify monitoring to protect the White Volta basin from unsustainable exploitation.
The use of medicinal plants is the most accessible primary health care approach in rural communities with limited infrastructure for western medicine. Medicinal plants are therefore an integral component of traditional medicine in Ghana, but wild bushes where medicinal plants regenerate naturally are being converted to alternative landuse. Although most landuse changes are destructive to biodiversity, some indigenous land use systems are known to be environmentally friendly. The present study examined the diversity and abundance of medicinal plants in three landuse types (Protected Area, Fallow land and Farmland) of northern Ghana. Twenty-five quadrates of 30 × 30 m were randomly laid in each landuse and replicated in three communities. Leguminosae, Combretaceae and Rubiaceae occurred as the most dominant medicinal plant families in all landuse but woody plants were significantly abundant in protected areas (p = 0.001). Species richness, Shannon diversity index, alpha and gamma diversities were all higher in the protected areas. Species composition also varied between landuse in beta diversity (p = 0.005, r2 = 0.33). Medicinal plant population have reduced significantly in farmlands, farmers should therefore adopt agroforestry practices to help conserve medicinal plant biodiversity.
