diff --git a/Surface_mesh_approximation/include/CGAL/internal/Surface_mesh_approximation/named_params_helper.h b/Surface_mesh_approximation/include/CGAL/internal/Surface_mesh_approximation/named_params_helper.h
index e37245fd9a5..0aa512f1f1f 100644
--- a/Surface_mesh_approximation/include/CGAL/internal/Surface_mesh_approximation/named_params_helper.h
+++ b/Surface_mesh_approximation/include/CGAL/internal/Surface_mesh_approximation/named_params_helper.h
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ void get_proxy_map(const Approximation &approx, FacetProxyMap fproxymap) {
 }
 
 template <typename Approximation>
-void get_proxy_map(const Approximation &approx, internal_np::vsa_no_output_t) {}
+void get_proxy_map(const Approximation &, internal_np::vsa_no_output_t) {}
 
 template <typename Approximation, typename OutputIterator>
 void get_anchor_vertices(const Approximation &approx, OutputIterator out_itr) {
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ void get_anchor_vertices(const Approximation &approx, OutputIterator out_itr) {
 }
 
 template <typename Approximation>
-void get_anchor_vertices(const Approximation &approx, internal_np::vsa_no_output_t) {}
+void get_anchor_vertices(const Approximation &, internal_np::vsa_no_output_t) {}
 
 template <typename Approximation, typename OutputIterator>
 void get_anchor_points(const Approximation &approx, OutputIterator out_itr) {
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ void get_anchor_points(const Approximation &approx, OutputIterator out_itr) {
 }
 
 template <typename Approximation>
-void get_anchor_points(const Approximation &approx, internal_np::vsa_no_output_t) {}
+void get_anchor_points(const Approximation &, internal_np::vsa_no_output_t) {}
 
 template <typename Approximation, typename OutputIterator>
 void get_indexed_triangles(const Approximation &approx, OutputIterator out_itr) {
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ void get_indexed_triangles(const Approximation &approx, OutputIterator out_itr)
 }
 
 template <typename Approximation>
-void get_indexed_triangles(const Approximation &approx, internal_np::vsa_no_output_t) {}
+void get_indexed_triangles(const Approximation &, internal_np::vsa_no_output_t) {}
 
 template <typename Approximation, typename OutputIterator>
 void get_proxies(const Approximation &approx, OutputIterator out_itr) {
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ void get_proxies(const Approximation &approx, OutputIterator out_itr) {
 }
 
 template <typename Approximation>
-void get_proxies(const Approximation &approx, internal_np::vsa_no_output_t) {}
+void get_proxies(const Approximation &, internal_np::vsa_no_output_t) {}
 
 } //end of namespace CGAL
 
diff --git a/Surface_mesh_approximation/include/CGAL/vsa_mesh_approximation.h b/Surface_mesh_approximation/include/CGAL/vsa_mesh_approximation.h
index dd949c4df11..187d81f5bd9 100644
--- a/Surface_mesh_approximation/include/CGAL/vsa_mesh_approximation.h
+++ b/Surface_mesh_approximation/include/CGAL/vsa_mesh_approximation.h
@@ -70,14 +70,11 @@ bool vsa_mesh_approximation(const TriangleMesh &tm_in,
   PolyhedronSurface &tm_out,
   const NamedParameters &np)
 {
-  typedef typename boost::graph_traits<TriangleMesh>::vertex_descriptor vertex_descriptor;
-
   using boost::get_param;
   using boost::choose_param;
 
   typedef typename GetGeomTraits<TriangleMesh, NamedParameters>::type GeomTraits;
   typedef typename GeomTraits::FT FT;
-  typedef typename GeomTraits::Point_3 Point_3;
 
   typedef typename GetVertexPointMap<TriangleMesh, NamedParameters>::type VPMap;
   VPMap point_pmap = choose_param(get_param(np, internal_np::vertex_point),
diff --git a/Surface_mesh_approximation/test/Surface_mesh_approximation/vsa_correctness_test.cpp b/Surface_mesh_approximation/test/Surface_mesh_approximation/vsa_correctness_test.cpp
index 66a359e4efc..7ca5867352f 100644
--- a/Surface_mesh_approximation/test/Surface_mesh_approximation/vsa_correctness_test.cpp
+++ b/Surface_mesh_approximation/test/Surface_mesh_approximation/vsa_correctness_test.cpp
@@ -43,6 +43,15 @@ bool test_shape(const char *file_name, const std::size_t target_num_proxies)
   vsa_l21.seeding_by_error(L21VSA::Incremental, drop, inner_iterations);
   for (std::size_t i = 0; i < num_iterations; ++i)
     vsa_l21.run_one_step();
+
+  // eliminate redundant area (local minima) by merging
+  std::size_t px0 = 0, px1 = 0;
+  while (vsa_l21.find_best_merge(px0, px1, true)) {
+    vsa_l21.merge(px0, px1);
+    for (std::size_t i = 0; i < num_iterations; ++i)
+      vsa_l21.run_one_step();
+  }
+
   if (vsa_l21.get_proxies_size() != target_num_proxies) {
     std::cout << "#targeted - #result "
       << target_num_proxies << ' '