TITLE:
Animal Recolonization as a Success Indicator of the Progressive Ecological Rehabilitation around a Tropical Highland Open Pit Mine
AUTHORS:
Lefranc Busane Basima, Bertin Murhabale Cisirika, Jean-Berckmans B. Muhigwa
KEYWORDS:
Mining, Ecological Rehabilitation, Animal Recolonization
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.16 No.2,
February
26,
2025
ABSTRACT: The Twangiza mine is located in the Mitumba mountain range, in the western part of the Albertine Rift Valley, just 20 km East of Itombwe Nature Reserve. A biological inventory was carried out within the mine’s decade-old progressive ecological rehabilitation sites. This inventory covered insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and small mammals. The main objective of the inventory was to assess the level of animal recolonization in the 100-hectares’ restored areas. A total of 22 insect genera, 4 amphibian species, 11 reptile species, 43 bird species and 11 small mammal species were found. All of them were strongly settled in the core area within the afforested sites. Prior to the start of the Twangiza mine activities and 4 years before the ecological rehabilitation in the area, the avifauna was depauperate, both in number of species and their abundance. By then, no mammals or reptiles were recorded within the footprint area. The environmental and social baseline assessment identified 38 bird species in 2008, mainly grassland and mobile species, which were using scrub along valley streams as a refuge, outside the current mine footprint. Our results clearly demonstrate the positive impact of the afforestation on insect, amphibian, reptile, bird and small mammal’s diversity in this area.