Africa is sitting on vast deposits of critical and strategic minerals that could help drive industrialization, attract investment and strengthen its position in the global economy. But as international demand for these resources grows, Dr. Abiola Bashorun, Coordinator of the Climate-Smart Sustainability Programme, says Africa must look beyond extraction and pay greater attention to what happens to its land, water, ecosystems and communities.
For Dr. Bashorun, the real measure of responsible mineral development should not end with how much mineral wealth is extracted. It should also consider what remains after extraction and whether affected landscapes and communities are left with a sustainable future.
Dr. Bashorun believes Africa’s critical and strategic mineral resources present an important opportunity for economic development, scientific research, technological advancement, investment and international collaboration.
However, she argues that the opportunity must be matched by a clear responsibility to ensure that mineral development does not leave behind degraded landscapes, compromised water systems or communities burdened by long-term environmental consequences.
Dr. Bashorun is advocating a model in which environmental remediation, land restoration and community resilience are incorporated into the mineral-development cycle from the beginning, rather than treated as issues to be addressed only after mining activities have ended.
This approach, she says, is central to the Climate-Smart Sustainability Programme and particularly its Climate-Smart Agronomy arm.
According to Bashorun, mineral development and environmental stewardship should not be treated as opposing objectives.
“They can, and must, coexist,” she maintains.
From Exploration to Restoration
Dr. Bashorun notes that mineral exploration and mining inevitably interact with the natural environment. Depending on their scale and location, mining activities can affect vegetation, soil structure, agricultural land, drainage systems, surface water, groundwater and surrounding ecosystems.
For Bashorun, the challenge is therefore not simply to identify valuable mineral resources and extract them responsibly. Africa must also establish scientifically credible pathways for protecting, rehabilitating and repurposing affected landscapes.
This is where Dr. Bashorun sees Climate-Smart Agronomy playing an important role.
Through the Climate-Smart Agronomy arm of the Climate-Smart Sustainability Programme, Bashorun advocates the scientific assessment, remediation and sustainable management of land and natural resources affected by mineral exploration and mining activities.
Such assessments, she explains, should examine soil conditions, water quality, erosion, vegetation loss, contamination risks, land stability and other environmental impacts before decisions are made about how an affected landscape should be restored or reused.
Bashorun stresses, however, that not every post-mining landscape should automatically be converted into agricultural land.
While some rehabilitated areas may be suitable for crop production, she says others may be better suited to forestry, grazing, conservation, renewable-energy projects, controlled aquaculture, water-resource management, biodiversity restoration, recreation or other productive uses.
In some circumstances, excavated mine pits could potentially be considered for aquaculture, water storage or other community uses. Bashorun cautions that such decisions must only follow rigorous hydrological, environmental, geotechnical and water-quality assessments.
Her guiding principle is clear:
Science must determine the appropriate post-mining land use.
Soil and Water Are Fundamental
For Dr. Bashorun, healthy soil and clean water are fundamental to agriculture, public health, ecosystems and community livelihoods.
She therefore argues that environmental remediation should not simply involve covering disturbed land with soil, planting vegetation and declaring an area restored.
True restoration, she says, must begin with scientific understanding.
Key questions must be answered: What substances are present in the soil? Has valuable topsoil been preserved or lost? Has mineral activity altered the chemical or physical condition of the land? Is nearby water safe? Is the land stable? Can vegetation grow successfully? Could agricultural production occur safely? What types of crops or land uses would be appropriate? Are there risks of contaminants entering the food chain?
Bashorun says answering these questions requires multidisciplinary expertise involving agronomists, soil scientists, geologists, hydrologists, environmental scientists, engineers, ecologists, public-health specialists, economists, community-development experts and local stakeholders.
She believes this makes post-mining restoration not only an environmental challenge but also an opportunity for scientific collaboration and innovation.
A Global Research Opportunity
The scale of Africa’s mineral resources and the diversity of its landscapes, according to Bashorun, provide an opportunity to establish stronger partnerships among African and international universities, research institutions, governments, development organisations, scientific agencies, private-sector operators, environmental specialists and local communities.
She says such partnerships could support research programmes covering soil and water science, environmental baselines, land rehabilitation, climate resilience, ecosystem restoration, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, environmental monitoring and appropriate post-mining land use.
Universities and research institutions can provide scientific expertise, laboratory capacity and innovation, while governments can develop enabling policies and regulatory frameworks.
Responsible mining companies, she adds, can contribute access to sites, operational data, technology and investment, while development organisations can support research, capacity building and community programmes.
Bashorun insists that African communities and local institutions must also play an active role in defining priorities and determining what sustainable restoration should mean in their environments.
She argues that Africa should not rely solely on imported solutions.
Instead, Bashorun advocates a model built around co-creation, knowledge exchange and locally grounded innovation.
With the right partnerships, she believes Africa can become not only a major participant in the global mineral economy but also a centre for research and innovation in environmental remediation and sustainable post-mining development.
Establishing Environmental Baselines
Bashorun identifies environmental baseline studies as another important component of responsible mineral development.
She explains that knowing the condition of an environment before major disturbance occurs makes it easier to determine how exploration or mining has affected soil, water, vegetation and surrounding communities.
Baseline studies can document soil composition, water quality, biodiversity, agricultural productivity and other environmental conditions before development begins.
That information can provide a scientific reference point against which future changes can be measured.
For Bashorun, this creates an opportunity to move from reactive remediation to planned restoration.
Rather than waiting until a mine reaches the end of its operating life before considering rehabilitation, she believes post-mining land use should be considered from the earliest stages of mineral development.
Such an approach would make exploration, mining, environmental protection and eventual restoration parts of one continuous sustainability framework.
Communities Must Be Part of the Solution
Bashorun says communities located near mineral-development areas should never be treated merely as observers.
They are among the most important stakeholders because residents possess valuable knowledge of their local environment—including how water flows, where people farm, how land has traditionally been used, which areas flood, what vegetation grows naturally and how environmental conditions have changed over time.
She believes this local knowledge should complement scientific assessment.
At the same time, Bashorun sees environmental remediation as a potential source of new economic opportunities for communities.
Restoration programmes can create employment in environmental monitoring, soil rehabilitation, nursery development, reforestation, water management, ecological restoration, agricultural demonstration projects and land maintenance.
She also advocates training young people in emerging areas such as geospatial mapping, environmental sampling, soil testing, water-quality monitoring, drone-based land assessment, climate-smart agriculture and remediation technologies.
For Bashorun, communities should not simply watch mineral resources leave their environment.
They should participate in—and benefit from—the restoration and transformation that follows.
Turning Disturbed Landscapes Into Assets
One of the opportunities presented by post-mining restoration, according to Bashorun, is the possibility of transforming disturbed land into new productive assets.
Where scientific assessments demonstrate that land is safe and suitable, reclaimed areas could potentially support agriculture or agroforestry.
Other areas could become conservation zones, forests, renewable-energy sites, reservoirs, research stations or community development areas.
Bashorun also sees former mining environments potentially becoming living laboratories where scientists, students and communities can test new approaches to soil recovery, water management, ecosystem restoration and climate resilience.
This, she argues, requires a different way of thinking about reclamation.
Instead of seeing post-mining land solely as damaged territory that must be repaired, responsible rehabilitation can create new environmental, scientific and economic value.
Mining Should Leave a Positive Legacy
Bashorun observes that mineral development has traditionally been evaluated largely by the quantity and value of resources extracted.
While those measurements remain important, she believes modern sustainability requires another question:
What remains after extraction ends?
For Bashorun, a successful mineral-development project should not leave behind unusable land, contaminated waterways or communities with fewer opportunities than they had before mining began.
Its legacy should include restored environments, stronger communities, scientific knowledge, improved skills, productive land uses and new economic opportunities.
Environmental restoration, she argues, should therefore not be regarded merely as a regulatory obligation.
It should be viewed as an investment in the future of the landscape and the people who depend upon it.
From Mineral Wealth to Sustainable Wealth
Bashorun believes Africa’s mineral resources have the potential to support a new era of industrial and economic development.
But she argues that the continent’s long-term success will not be determined simply by how much mineral wealth is extracted.
The greater challenge is how effectively that mineral wealth is converted into sustainable wealth.
That means ensuring that natural-resource development supports environmental protection, scientific research, skills development, climate resilience, agriculture, innovation and community prosperity.
Through the Climate-Smart Agronomy arm of the Climate-Smart Sustainability Programme, Bashorun advocates a model that brings together science, industry, government, academia, development partners and communities to address the entire life cycle of mineral development.
It is a model that moves deliberately from exploration to restoration.
Bashorun believes Africa can demonstrate that responsible mineral development and climate-smart agronomy can coexist, transforming impacted landscapes into platforms for restoration, research, food security, environmental recovery, economic opportunity and long-term resilience.
Africa, she argues, has an opportunity not merely to participate in the global critical-minerals economy but to help redefine what responsible resource development should look like.
The minerals beneath Africa’s soil may help build the technologies and industries of tomorrow.
The challenge, Dr. Abiola Bashorun says, is to ensure that the land above them still has a future.
