Application of Vegetation Index to Assess the Sustainability of Coal Mines in India

IF 0.4 Q4 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution Pub Date : 2022-09-16 DOI:10.3233/ajw220066

C. Chauhan, A. Ahmed, R. Srikanth

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

India’s per capita electricity consumption is less than one-third of the global average. Coal is the only energy source that India possesses in abundance to meet the 24×7 electricity requirements of its people in a cost-effective manner. While mining operations have positive economic impacts on the local area in terms of infrastructure development and provision of employment and business opportunities for the local population, they also create adverse impacts on the environment. These impacts are particularly significant in the case of opencast coal mines which produce more than 94% of the coal produced in India. The coal sector must incorporate social and ecological sensitivities into the mining process from the planning stage up to mine closure to meet India’s Sustainable Development Goals. In this study, the authors present the results of a study on the vegetation and air environment around four opencast coal mines in the State of Telangana. The Normalized Vegetation Difference Index (NDVI) is useful to assess the environmental impacts of mining operations, such as the air quality and vegetation around coal mines, and also monitor the progress of post-closure activities. The findings of this study are relevant for other coal mines.

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植被指数在印度煤矿可持续性评价中的应用

印度的人均用电量不到全球平均水平的三分之一。煤炭是印度唯一拥有丰富的能源，能够以经济有效的方式满足其人民24×7的电力需求。虽然采矿作业在发展基础设施和为当地人口提供就业和商业机会方面对当地产生积极的经济影响，但也对环境产生不利影响。这些影响在露天煤矿的情况下尤为显著，露天煤矿的煤炭产量占印度煤炭产量的94%以上。从规划阶段到煤矿关闭，煤炭行业必须将社会和生态敏感性纳入采矿过程，以实现印度的可持续发展目标。在这项研究中，作者介绍了对泰伦加纳邦四个露天煤矿周围植被和空气环境的研究结果。归一化植被差异指数(NDVI)可用于评估采矿作业的环境影响，如煤矿周围的空气质量和植被，并监测关闭后活动的进展情况。本研究结果对其他煤矿具有一定的参考价值。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES-

CiteScore

1.00

自引率

20.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Asia, as a whole region, faces severe stress on water availability, primarily due to high population density. Many regions of the continent face severe problems of water pollution on local as well as regional scale and these have to be tackled with a pan-Asian approach. However, the available literature on the subject is generally based on research done in Europe and North America. Therefore, there is an urgent and strong need for an Asian journal with its focus on the region and wherein the region specific problems are addressed in an intelligent manner. In Asia, besides water, there are several other issues related to environment, such as; global warming and its impact; intense land/use and shifting pattern of agriculture; issues related to fertilizer applications and pesticide residues in soil and water; and solid and liquid waste management particularly in industrial and urban areas. Asia is also a region with intense mining activities whereby serious environmental problems related to land/use, loss of top soil, water pollution and acid mine drainage are faced by various communities. Essentially, Asians are confronted with environmental problems on many fronts. Many pressing issues in the region interlink various aspects of environmental problems faced by population in this densely habited region in the world. Pollution is one such serious issue for many countries since there are many transnational water bodies that spread the pollutants across the entire region. Water, environment and pollution together constitute a three axial problem that all concerned people in the region would like to focus on.