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Characterisation of litter and their deposition at the banks of coastal lagoons in Ghana

Coastal lagoons near shores of the marine environment are transitional zones that accumulate litter in transit to the oceans. In view of this, it is important that the dynamics of lagoon litter accumulation are well understood to inform waste control and sustainable management of the coastal environ...

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Autores principales: Nukpezah, Daniel, Quarshie, Joseph T., Nyarko, Elvis, Hogarh, Jonathan N.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8892197/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35252609
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08997
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author Nukpezah, Daniel
Quarshie, Joseph T.
Nyarko, Elvis
Hogarh, Jonathan N.
author_facet Nukpezah, Daniel
Quarshie, Joseph T.
Nyarko, Elvis
Hogarh, Jonathan N.
author_sort Nukpezah, Daniel
collection PubMed
description Coastal lagoons near shores of the marine environment are transitional zones that accumulate litter in transit to the oceans. In view of this, it is important that the dynamics of lagoon litter accumulation are well understood to inform waste control and sustainable management of the coastal environment. The present study assessed the spatio-temporal distribution of lagoon litter along the eastern coast of Ghana, taking a critical look at the abundance and diversity of lagoon litter. Five coastal lagoons were studied: the Kpeshie, Mukwei and Sakumo II lagoons (in urban locations) and the Gao and Keta lagoons (in non-urban locations). Site specific litter abundance (number of items) along the banks of the lagoons ranged between 842 and 8,243 items/month at a deposition rate of 0.71 items/m(2)/month. Plastic litter was by far the most abundant and diverse litter fraction. Generally, lagoons at urbanised areas of the coast were found to accumulate more litter than those located at non-urbanized areas. Other key factors that affected the accumulation of lagoon litter included proximity to communities, rainfall and the use of lagoons for recreational and religious activities. The results provided baseline data for lagoon waste management in the coastal environment in Ghana and other West African countries that share similar coastal characteristics.
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spelling pubmed-88921972022-03-04 Characterisation of litter and their deposition at the banks of coastal lagoons in Ghana Nukpezah, Daniel Quarshie, Joseph T. Nyarko, Elvis Hogarh, Jonathan N. Heliyon Research Article Coastal lagoons near shores of the marine environment are transitional zones that accumulate litter in transit to the oceans. In view of this, it is important that the dynamics of lagoon litter accumulation are well understood to inform waste control and sustainable management of the coastal environment. The present study assessed the spatio-temporal distribution of lagoon litter along the eastern coast of Ghana, taking a critical look at the abundance and diversity of lagoon litter. Five coastal lagoons were studied: the Kpeshie, Mukwei and Sakumo II lagoons (in urban locations) and the Gao and Keta lagoons (in non-urban locations). Site specific litter abundance (number of items) along the banks of the lagoons ranged between 842 and 8,243 items/month at a deposition rate of 0.71 items/m(2)/month. Plastic litter was by far the most abundant and diverse litter fraction. Generally, lagoons at urbanised areas of the coast were found to accumulate more litter than those located at non-urbanized areas. Other key factors that affected the accumulation of lagoon litter included proximity to communities, rainfall and the use of lagoons for recreational and religious activities. The results provided baseline data for lagoon waste management in the coastal environment in Ghana and other West African countries that share similar coastal characteristics. Elsevier 2022-02-22 /pmc/articles/PMC8892197/ /pubmed/35252609 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08997 Text en © 2022 The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Research Article
Nukpezah, Daniel
Quarshie, Joseph T.
Nyarko, Elvis
Hogarh, Jonathan N.
Characterisation of litter and their deposition at the banks of coastal lagoons in Ghana
title Characterisation of litter and their deposition at the banks of coastal lagoons in Ghana
title_full Characterisation of litter and their deposition at the banks of coastal lagoons in Ghana
title_fullStr Characterisation of litter and their deposition at the banks of coastal lagoons in Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Characterisation of litter and their deposition at the banks of coastal lagoons in Ghana
title_short Characterisation of litter and their deposition at the banks of coastal lagoons in Ghana
title_sort characterisation of litter and their deposition at the banks of coastal lagoons in ghana
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8892197/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35252609
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e08997
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