Research project "Phytoremediation of mercury contaminated mining sites in Ghana and Burkina Faso with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi"

Background and project objectives

Effects of mining in Ghana and Burkina Faso
 

The artisanal small-scale gold mining in Ghana and Burkina Faso, in which mercury (Hg) is often used, has led to land degradation and major health hazards for workers and the population. There is therefore a general consensus that the serious Hg contamination in many areas of Ghana and Burkina Faso where gold mining is carried out requires immediate and deliberate action to reuse abandoned mining sites to produce healthy food crops.

 
Innovative solutions

Phytoremediation of Hg-contaminated soils by AMF plant systems has not yet been carried out and requires a well-founded and interdisciplinary research approach. The method to be developed should be available to a broad target market in countries with mining activities and comparable agro-ecological conditions. The risks lie mainly in the fact that research work on the phytoremediation of Hg has hardly been carried out to date, so that the economic success of the project cannot yet be predicted.

The Project Mercury-AMF pursues the folloging scientific and technological objectives:
  • Isolation and genetic characterisation of Hg-tolerant AMF strains from contaminated sites and production of highly effective inocula adapted to local plant species (UHOH 490e, CSIR-SRI, INOQ GmbH, INERA).
  • Understanding the ecological mechanisms of phytoremediation by AMF plant systems by quantifiable phytoextraction and investigation of Hg distribution patterns in plants and soils (UHOH 340f, CSIR-CRI).
  • Evaluation of different AMF plant systems regarding their ability to remediate Hg contaminated soils (UHOH 490e, CSIR-CRI, WASCAL).
  • Assessment of the institutional and socio-economic framework conditions for the introduction of AMF plant systems in cooperation with stakeholders at national, regional and district level in order to create promising conditions for product introduction (UHOH 490c, ISSER, KNUST, INERA).
  • Analysis of the conditions for the introduction of AMF plant systems from the point of view of municipalities and rural households using participatory research methods (UHOH 490c, ISSER, KNUST, INERA).
  • Introduction of the methodology and establishment of commercial relations with local authorities and companies in the fields of gold mining and land rehabilitation in Ghana and Burkina Faso with the aim of introducing and commercially using AMF plant systems and associated knowledge (INOQ GmbH, KNUST, INERA).