Environment and health – Université de Lubumbashi

List of publications

OBJECTIVES

This project aims to propose strategies to clean up ecosystems impacted by mining activities and to improve the environmental quality and health of the KCA’s population. The specific objectives of the project are (i) to improve assessment of pollution and remediation of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, air quality and urbanization; and (ii) to improve population health by reducing and preventing exposure to the toxic effects of trace metals, and to provide appropriate health care. In the medium term the
project aims to (i) strengthen UNILU and the provinces of Upper-Katanga and Lualaba in human and material capacities to understand the problems of ecosystem pollution, health and urbanization resulting from mining activities and to propose appropriate solutions; and (ii) propose appropriate strategies for the remediation of polluted areas, the management of health issues and the spatial planning of urbanized areas in the KCA. In the long term, this project aims to (i) make UNILU a regional reference institution on strategies to improve the quality of the environment; (ii) remediate ecosystems polluted by mining activities in order to reduce human, plant and animal exposure and improve their contribution to the well-being of the population; and (iii) provide the population of the KCA with appropriate care for health problems related to environmental disturbances mainly caused by mining activities and unplanned urbanization associated with strong demographic pressure.

CONTEXT

This project takes place in the context of the environmental degradation of the KCA and the contribution of its ecosystems to
improving the quality of life of the people. The KCA’s populations are facing serious public health problems as a result of exposure to pollutants and irradiation related to mining in a context of strong demographic pressure in the agglomerations created anarchically around the main mining sites. This project is part of a general search for sustainable solutions initiated
during projects undertaken in recent years by addressing the remediation of wetlands, for which strategies have not yet been developed, and by promoting strategies already available for non-flooded soils. In addition, this project aims to address major public health issues related to mining activities and spontaneous urbanization around major mining sites and to propose appropriate solutions such as detection and diagnosis capacity building or production of an urbanization guide in mining environments. It has been demonstrated through several VLIR-UOS projects conducted at UNILU that human exposure to trace metals in the KCA has disastrous consequences for human health (heart failure, peripatum cardiomyopathy, hypertension, erectile dysfunction, premature births, abortions, infertility, high maternal and infant mortality etc. as reported by Malamba et al., 2018; Mukendi et al., 2018; Musa et al., 2019; Van Brusselen et al., 2020). Furthermore, in the context of Covid-19, Tanwar et al. (2020) demonstrated air pollution to be an important co-factor for increased myocardial damage and thus increased complications and mortality of infected patients. The absence of sustainable urban development plans exacerbates this problem. This accentuates the complexity of health problems and increases the frequency of natural disasters, including floods and erosion. Although KCA’s cities sometimes offer many opportunities, such as access to health care, drinking water, electricity and education, anarchic urbanisation continues to occur spontaneously due to the weakening of the power of the public authority. Around mining sites (artisanal as well as industrial), makeshift settlements develop. Spontaneous urbanization thus contributes to increasing health risks (prostitution, alcoholism, drug addiction, etc.). The most obvious health problems are linked to drinking water scarcity, environmental degradation, violence and trauma, non-communicable (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases) and communicable diseases (HIV, hepatitis, measles, etc) and poor diet, etc. The above-mentioned problems particularly affect women and children, particularly at the ASM sites. Project 2 therefore aims to provide adequate training of teachersresearchers and professionals, especially in the field of depollution of ecosystems impacted by mining activities, health, sanitation and sustainable urbanization. The project also aims to support the operationalization of an Environmental Observatory within project 6, capacity building of laboratory technicians, and the training of new academic expertise in order to participate in the creation and improvement, by 2032, of the socio-ecological framework through quality environment, sustainable urbanization and sanitary conditions. From the above, it is clear that all activities envisaged in the framework of this IUC programme (and all projects proposed) cannot be adequately carried out without real consideration of environmental and health issues. Indeed, the depollution of ecosystems impacted by mining activities: (i) will contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and its services to people as well as to resilience to the effects of climate change (Project 1), (ii) will promote entrepreneurship by offering opportunities for the creation of new value chains (Project 4) as well as the development of market gardening and animal husbandry (Project 5) in previously unsuitable areas, and finally (iii) will contribute, through better knowledge of depolluted ecosystems, to the development of governance principles adapted to their context (Project 3). University radio and television will be used to disseminate the results of this project, while the UNILU-Society interface will be used to strengthen the partnership between UNILU and the various stakeholders working in the field of the environment, urbanization, sanitation and health (Project 6).

STRATEGIES OF THE PROJECT

The strategy of the present project is based on 3 Axes:
Axis 1. Scientific Research Capacity Building. Capacity building of scientific staff through doctoral research (6 to 8 PhD theses) in the field of environment, health, as well as sanitation and urbanization issues, and the strengthening of the capacities of the appropriate laboratories (in equipment, infrastructure and technical staff, etc.). Research will focus on the following domains: (i) assessment of ecosystem pollution and remediation techniques; (ii) reinforcement of epidemiological surveillance of health problems in the KCA and the valorisation of local knowledge in traditional medicine, iii) evaluation of the impact of uncontrolled urbanization on the environment and health within KCA. IR1: The competences of UNILU teacher-researchers on the assessment of pollution and remediation strategies of polluted ecosystems, epidemiological monitoring, the valorisation of local knowledge in traditional medicine, and sustainable spatial planning of urbanised areas in a mining context are reinforced and transferred to UNILU students and at least 6 PhD students are trained.

Axis 2. Training. A multidisciplinary (Agronomy, Pharmacy, Sciences, Polytechnic, Public Health, Medicine, Architecture, etc.) and advanced Master in “Environmental Sciences and Technology” will be developed at UNILU. This advanced Master aims to train specialists / actors capable of understanding the issue of the mining environment through a multidisciplinary and multiscale approach. In addition, it will be the interface of several sciences, all the more so as it will address technical, health, economic, etc. issues related to the mining environment. The need to create it stems from the fact that there is no study programme in the mining environment, either in the DRC or in the sub-region (Central, Eastern or Southern Africa). UNILU, through this advanced Master, has the ambition to become a centre of excellence for training in the mining environment in the sub-region. In addition, continuous training on environmental, health and urban planning themes related to mining activity within the KCA will be regularly organized. These will be particularly addressed to the agents of state technical services (health, environment…), health professionals, NGOs, mining companies and the traditional / political-administrative authorities. The balanced gender representation will be encouraged, both with regard to the persons to be trained and the trainers. IR2: The continuing education programme and the Multidisciplinary and Specialized Master in Environmental Science and Technology are organised.
Axis 3. Services to Society. A task force will be set up, bringing together representatives of all stakeholders, to provide a forum for exchanges on pollution and remediation issues, health issues and land use planning. Dissemination of the project’s results will take place through university radio and television, scientific publications, practical guides and participation in symposia, congresses, workshops, etc. Dissemination of the results adapted to non-scientific groups, especially the local communities of the KCA will be designed preferably in local languages and/or with pictograms to reach a large number of inhabitants. IR3: The results obtained are disseminated to all local actors.

FINAL BENEFICIARIES

The final beneficiaries of the project are: (i) UNILU students who will benefit from quality training of their teachers on the interconnection between environment, health and urbanization; (ii) State technical services and NGOs who will have a better understanding of the epidemiological situation of health problems related to mining and better databases on polluted ecosystems, with a view to developing effective strategies, based on the local context, for the remediation of sites made non-viable by mining activities, (iii) mining companies and miners’ associations will have information on effective strategies (based on knowledge of the causes of the problems observed) for the remediation of sites made non-viable by their activities; (iv) the people of the KCA who will have access to the ecosystem services of the remediated sites (especially women engaged in market gardening), to better organized and context-appropriate health care to meet their vital needs. End-users may face structural challenges and obstacles: low involvement of traditional and politicoadministrative authorities, low level of collaboration between stakeholders (i.e. no sharing of available data), language barrier, lack of receptivity of populations to the strategies developed by the project, low level of vulgarisation. UNILU, with its deep knowledge and understanding of the local context and its long-term collaboration with beneficiaries and end-users, will take up these challenges. Thus, thanks to the various partnerships with traditional and political authorities, UNILU researchers will have easy access to the study sites. In addition, these authorities, in collaboration with the community relays, will be involved in the implementation of the strategies developed in the project. Finally, the Task Force, which will provide a forum for exchanges between stakeholders, will help overcome the above challenges and obstacles through frequent consultations and better communication and knowledge of needs and alternatives between stakeholders.