Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on Post-Industrial Land E-Book
152,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Guide to post-industrial site restoration and re-establishment of rich communities of plant species for the provision of key ecosystem services
In line with the UN sustainable development goals, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on Post-Industrial Land is an expert guide to ecological restoration of post-industrial lands, explaining how to re-introduce biodiversity and ecosystem services by implementing natural processes in the rehabilitation of disturbed sites. It covers both the initial stages associated with the improvement of physicochemical and biological substrate characteristics as a precondition for continuous vegetation, as well as the subsequent re-establishment of rich communities of plant species and how these communities may be optimized for their biodiversity and ecosystem services such as pedogenesis, nutrient cycling, habitation for other organisms, food plants for herbivores, carbon sequestration, and aesthetic value.
Case studies of successful restoration of industrial sites from Asia, Africa, North and South America, and Europe, which include coal and mineral mining sites, oil drilling sites, and dumpsites, complement the conceptual part of the text and demonstrate how to put the theory into practice.
Written by an experienced researcher in the field, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on Post-Industrial Land includes information on:
- Mining sustainability in arid zones, aromatic plants for phytoremediation, and spontaneous flora growth on metalliferous sites
- Resilience of plant diversity, ecosystem services from rehabilitated waste dumpsites, and plantation forestry for eco-restoration
- Soil biodiversity and plant-microbe interactions, afforestation of former asbestos mines, and bauxite mine restoration and management
- Role of the local government in re-use of sites, restoration of wetlands in oil and gas exploration areas, and carbon sequestration in revegetated coal mine soil
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on Post-Industrial Land is an essential guide for environmental managers, scientists, ecologists, and engineers tasked with restoring post-industrial sites, managers in mining, oil, gas, and other heavy industries, and NGOs involved in sustainable land use.
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 837
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
Ähnliche
Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
List of Contributors
About the Editor
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
1 Mining Sustainability
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Mining in Chile
1.3 Chile: Arid Zone Mining
1.4 Circular Mining and Arid Zone Sustainability
1.5 Conclusions
References
2 Restoring Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on Post‐Industrial Land
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Post‐Industrial Landscapes: A Brief Overview
2.3 Biodiversity on Post‐Industrial Land
2.4 Ecosystem Services on Post‐Industrial Land
2.5 Restoring Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on Post‐Industrial Land
2.6 Policy and Management for Post‐Industrial Landscapes
2.7 Key Findings and Implications
2.8 Challenges and Future Research Directions
2.9 Conclusion
References
3 Spontaneous Flora on Post‐industrial Metalliferous Sites
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Definition and Types of Post‐industrial Sites
3.3 Spontaneous Flora: Characteristics and Benefits
3.4 Spontaneous Flora in Post‐industrial Sites: Current Findings
3.5 Ecosystem Services of Spontaneous Flora on Post‐industrial Metalliferous Sites
3.6 Conclusions
Acknowledgments
References
4 Restoration Ecosystem Toward Spontaneous Succession on Reclaimed Mining Sites
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Biodiversity of Succession Communities on Mine Sites
4.3 Mine Soil Development Under Reclamation and Successional Communities
4.4 Biomass and Wood Productivity Potential of Reclaimed and Successional Plant Communities
4.5 Plant Communities from Succession as Indicators of Site Conditions
4.6 Managed Succession on Post‐Mine Sites
4.7 Example of a Reclamation by Using Vegetation Communities from Succession
4.8 Conclusion
Acknowledgments
References
5 Plant Diversity on Post‐Industrial Land
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Numerous Elements that Promote Industrialization
5.3 Industrial Impact on Plant Communities
5.4 Effects of Toxins Released by Various Industries
5.5 Mechanisms of Plant Resilience
5.6 Case Studies
5.7 Challenges and Failures
5.8 Ecological Restoration
5.9 Introduction of Important Species
5.10 Success Stories in Restoration
5.11 Policy Implications
5.12 Conclusion and Ways Forward
References
6 Plantation Forestry for Ecorestoration
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Plantation Forestry: Global Area Context
6.3 Expansion of Plantation Forestry to Industrial Forest Plantation
6.4 Species Grown in Forest Plantations
6.5 Ecosystem Services Through Plantation Forestry
6.6 Plantation Forestry Through a Reforestation Approach
6.7 Ecological Restoration and Sustainability
6.8 Forest Restoration
6.9 Plantation Forestry for Climate Change Mitigation
6.10 Socioeconomic Perspective of Restoration
6.11 Future Perspective
6.12 Conclusion
References
7 Soil Biodiversity and Plant‐Microbes Interactions on Post‐Industrial Land
7.1 Loss of Soil Biodiversity on Post‐Industrial Land
7.2 Biodiversity as an Opportunity for Sustainable Transformation of Mining Regions
7.3 Treatments Increasing the Biodiversity of Post‐Industrial Soil
7.4 Post‐Industrial Areas as a Refuge of Biodiversity
7.5 Plant‐Growth‐Promoting Microbes and Their Feasibility for Recultivation of Post‐Industrial Lands
7.6 Summary and Conclusions
Acknowledgments
References
8 Afforestation of Former Asbestos Mines in Quebec, Canada
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Historical Background of Asbestos Mining in Canada
8.3 Typical Ecological Restoration
8.4 Afforestation
8.5 Carbon Sequestration
8.6 Gains in Plant and Faunal Diversity Following Afforestation
8.7 Conclusion
Acknowledgments
References
9 Bauxite Mine Restoration and Management
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Impact of Bauxite Mining
9.3 Approaches Toward Management of the Impact of Bauxite Mining
9.4 Restoration Targets and Objectives
9.5 Stages of Restoration Planning and Implementation
9.6 Restoration Implementation
9.7 Sustainable Bauxite Mining
9.8 Rehabilitation and Restoration in Surguja – A Case Study from Chhattisgarh, India
9.9 Conclusion
9.10 Future Directives
References
10 Role of the Local Government in Re‐Use of Post‐Industrial Sites in Poland
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Post‐Industrial Sites in Poland
10.3 Role of the Voivodeships and Municipalities in the Management of Post‐Industrial Areas
10.4 Conclusions
Acknowledgement
References
11 Restoration of Ecosystem Services of Endangered Wetlands in Post Oil and Gas Exploration Era in the Niger Delta, Nigeria
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Characterization of Wetlands in the Niger Delta
11.3 Impact of Oil and Gas Exploration on Wetlands of the Niger Delta
11.4 Sedimentary Environment of the Niger Delta
11.5 Causes of Wetland Degradation
11.6 Ecosystem Services in a Restored Wetland
11.7 Sustainable Management of the Wetland in the Niger Delta
11.8 Policy Development of Wetlands in the Niger Delta
11.9 Conclusion and Recommendations
References
12 Carbon Sequestration in Revegetated Coal Mine Soil
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Analysis and Classification of Organic Residue/Plant Materials: Impacts on Carbon Sequestration in Soil
12.3 Litterfall Dynamics, Seasonal Variations, and Implications for Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration
12.4 Impact of Plant Litter Quality on Decomposition Rate and Soil Health in Restored Coal Mine Areas of Chhattisgarh, India
12.5 Role of Plant‐Microbe Interactions in Soil Carbon Sequestration: Insights from Microbial Biomass Carbon Dynamics
12.6 Different Pools of Soil Organic Carbon in Restored Mine Soil
12.7 Total Organic Carbon, C Stock, and C Sequestration in Reclaimed Mine Soil
12.8 Insights from Spectroscopic Analysis on Soil Organic Carbon Characteristics in Restored Mine Soils
12.9 Conclusion
References
13 Ecosystem Services from Rehabilitated Waste Dumpsites
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Different Types of Pollution
13.3 Risk Assessment of Metal Pollution
13.4 Source of Contamination and Its Identification
13.5 Effect on Ecological Services
13.6 Important Rehabilitated Waste Dumpsites
13.7 Ecosystem Services from Rehabilitated Waste Dumpsites
13.8 Improvement in Ecological Services by Improving the Waste Discharge Process
13.9 Strategies for Improving Ecological Services
13.10 Challenges Faced During Rehabilitation
13.11 Conclusions
References
14 Harnessing Aromatic Plants for Phytoremediation
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Aromatic Grasses
14.3 Aromatic Grasses and Their Phytoremediation Potential
14.4 Manifold Usages of Aromatic Grasses
14.5 Aromatic Grasses Rooted in UN‐SDGs
14.6 Conclusion and Prospects
References
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 2
Table 2.1 List of various international conservation strategies.
Table 2.2 List of various national conservation strategies.
Chapter 4
Table 4.1 The effects of succession and reclamation on soil organic carbon ...
Chapter 5
Table 5.1 Plant diversity on anthropogenic sites over the world.
Chapter 6
Table 6.1 Goal for enhancing forest area or tree plantation in different re...
Table 6.2 Ecosystem services through plantation forestry in different count...
Chapter 8
Table 8.1 Survival rates (%) of all shrubs and tree species after one and f...
Table 8.2 Mean survival rates (%) of tree species growing after three growi...
Table 8.3 Bird species detected using the Merlin Bird ID application in the...
Chapter 9
Table 9.1 Plantation details in restored habitat of a Bauxite mine area.
Table 9.2 Phytosociology of plantation in bauxite mine area of Mainpat, Sur...
Chapter 10
Table 10.1 Devasted and degraded areas in Poland in the years 2004–2014....
Table 10.2 Share of the cities in which post‐industrial, unused sites were ...
Table 10.3 Examples of the private and public investments in the post‐indus...
Table 10.4 Preferences of the respondents regarding the White Seas Park in ...
Chapter 11
Table 11.1 Classification of freshwater wetlands according to the RAMSAR co...
Table 11.2 The extent of wetlands in the tropical parts of the continents....
Table 11.3 Major estuaries and rivers in the Niger Delta, Nigeria.
Table 11.4 Impact of oil and gas exploration on organisms and environment in...
Table 11.5 Types of environments and the sub‐divisions in the Niger De...
Table 11.6 Shoreline types and their vulnerability to pollution in the Nige...
Chapter 12
Table 12.1 Chemical and biochemical characteristics of the leaf litter and ...
Table 12.2 Influence of tree species and years of reclamation on MBC (ug C ...
Table 12.3 TOC (%) of soil with the reclamation age under three tree specie...
Table 12.4 C stock (Mg C ha
−1
) of soil with the reclamation age under...
Table 12.5 C sequestration (Mg C ha
−1
) of soil with respect to recent...
Table 12.6 Influence of tree species and years of reclamation on E
465
/E
665
...
Chapter 13
Table 13.1 Guidelines for ensuring air quality and protecting vegetation....
Table 13.2 Pollution sources, identification method, and involved environme...
Table 13.3 Naturally occurring different phytodecontamination processes in ...
Chapter 14
Table 14.1 Condensed overview of research on the use of aromatic grasses fo...
Table 14.2 Rooted remediation: Vetiver vs. other plants in surface and subs...
List of Illustrations
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 Utilization of ecosystem services on post‐industrial land.
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 Different types of post‐industrial mining sites. (a) Sb‐As‐Cr tai...
Figure 3.2 Kostolac coal basin in Serbia. (a) Coal mining and waste depositi...
Figure 3.3 Post‐industrial sites in Serbia. (a) Active quarry site in Serbia...
Figure 3.4 Spontaneous flora in various post‐industrial metalliferous sites ...
Figure 3.5 Medicinal plants in abandoned antimony mine Stolice, Serbia. (a)
Figure 3.6 Ecosystem services of spontaneous flora on post‐industrial sites....
Figure 3.7
Odontarrhena muralis
s.l. growing spontaneously on an asbestos du...
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 Spontaneous succession on hard coal mine spoil heap built mainly ...
Figure 4.2 The process of spontaneous succession on hard coal mine spoil hea...
Figure 4.3 The stages of spontaneous succession on hard coal mine spoil heap...
Figure 4.4 Water as a key succession factor in an area of poor sandy substra...
Figure 4.5 Habitat diversity in a post‐mining area under primary succession....
Figure 4.6 Irregular surface of post‐mine pit excavation coverage by success...
Figure 4.7 An example of
Tussilago farfara
as an indicator of fertile soils ...
Figure 4.8 An example of including succession communities in reclaimed and r...
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 Effects of soil pollutants on plants.
Figure 5.2 Agro‐cum‐biotechnological approaches for removal of post‐industri...
Figure 5.3 Candidate plants for metal tolerance/phytoremediation.
Figure 5.4 Strategies for designing metal‐tolerant/accumulator plants using ...
Figure 5.5 Several adverse effects of heavy metals.
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1 Steps toward ecological restoration and sustainable development....
Figure 6.2 Model toward biomass restoration for the landscape.
Chapter 7
Figure 7.1 The initial influence of mining on biodiversity.
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 Waste rock and tailings piles in close proximity to the town of B...
Figure 8.2 Biosolids and sludge are mixed with a tractor loader (a), then lo...
Figure 8.3 Freshly applied mixture on the plateau of a tailings pile (a), an...
Figure 8.4 Grasses and forbs in the spring (mid‐May) after they were seeded ...
Figure 8.5 Regrowth of a miyabeana willow stool (a) and a tamarack seedling ...
Figure 8.6 Box‐and‐whisker plots of stem height (a) and stem diameter at the...
Figure 8.7 Example of a tamarack plot exhibiting good growth after four year...
Figure 8.8 Homogeneous application of the base mixture on a tailings plateau...
Figure 8.9 Mean stem height and diameter of three hybrid poplar clones (M × ...
Figure 8.10 Example of hybrid poplar (a) and tamarack (b) with substantial g...
Figure 8.11 From left to right, increasing competition intensity for white s...
Figure 8.12 Example of a red pine seedling under high competition and exhibi...
Figure 8.13 Hybrid poplar leaves accumulating between windrows. The gray sur...
Figure 8.14 Projections of diameter at breast height (DBH) of hybrid poplar ...
Figure 8.15 A trembling aspen bluff in control plot (no trees planted) with ...
Figure 8.16 Some other plant species establishing on the plateaus of asbesto...
Figure 8.17 Some plant species establishing on the plateaus of asbestos wast...
Figure 8.18 In their sixth year of growth, the fast‐growing hybrid poplars a...
Chapter 9
Figure 9.1 Phases of bauxite mining.
Figure 9.2 Impact of bauxite mining.
Figure 9.3 Process of rehabilitation.
Figure 9.4 Process of restoration.
Figure 9.5 Process of ecorestoration.
Figure 9.6 Stages of rehabilitation.
Figure 9.7 Bamboo plantation site.
Figure 9.8 Burnt plantation.
Figure 9.9 River site plantation.
Figure 9.10 Fuel wood plantation.
Chapter 11
Figure 11.1 Trophic pathway showing the transmission of pollutants up the fo...
Figure 11.2 Impact of oil and gas exploration on the wetland at Bodo, Niger ...
Figure 11.3 The sedimentary environment of the Niger Delta, Nigeria shows th...
Figure 11.4 The causes of wetland degradation in the Niger Delta region, Nig...
Figure 11.5 A remediated site that was re‐polluted in Bodo, Niger Delta, Nig...
Figure 11.6 Impact of artisanal refinery on wetland and mangrove forest in B...
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1 Spectral pattern of humic acid extracted from restored coalmine ...
Figure 12.2 Spectral pattern of humic acid extracted from soil under
Dalberg
...
Figure 12.3 Spectral pattern of humic acid extracted from soil under
Azadira
...
Figure 12.4 Spectral pattern of humic acid extracted from soil under
Gmelina
...
Figure 12.5 Spectral pattern of humic acid extracted from soil under three t...
Chapter 13
Figure 13.1 Generation of MSW by different income groups.
Figure 13.2 Eutrophical model of ecological services mediated by pollution. ...
Figure 13.3 A major source of water pollution.
Chapter 14
Figure 14.1 An informative diagram emphasizing the phytoremediation advantag...
Figure 14.2 Attainable environmental and economic benefits of engaging aroma...
Figure 14.3 Essence of sustainability: Aromatic grasses and the UN‐SDG frame...
Figure 14.4 A schematic representation illustrating the key stages involved ...
Guide
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
List of Contributors
About the Editor
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Begin Reading
Index
WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
Pages
iii
iv
xv
xvi
xvii
xviii
xix
xxi
xxiii
xxiv
xxv
xxvi
xxvii
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
381
382
383
384
385
386
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on Post‐Industrial Land
Edited by
Vimal Chandra Pandey
CSIR‐National Botanical Research InstituteLucknow, India
This edition first published 2025 © 2025 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial technologies or similar technologies. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
The right of Vimal Chandra Pandey to be identified as the author of the editorial material in this work has been asserted in accordance with law.
Registered OfficesJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK
For details of our global editorial offices, customer services, and more information about Wiley products visit us at www.wiley.com.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print‐on‐demand. Some content that appears in standard print versions of this book may not be available in other formats.
Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of WarrantyWhile the publisher and authors have used their best efforts in preparing this work, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives, written sales materials or promotional statements for this work. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a specialist where appropriate. The fact that an organization, website, or product is referred to in this work as a citation and/or potential source of further information does not mean that the publisher and authors endorse the information or services the organization, website, or product may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication DataNames: Pandey, Vimal Chandra, editor. Title: Biodiversity and ecosystem services on post‐industrial land / edited by Vimal Chandra Pandey. Description: Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2025. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2024023401 (print) | LCCN 2024023402 (ebook) | ISBN 9781394187386 (hardback) | ISBN 9781394187393 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781394187409 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Restoration ecology. | Abandoned mined lands reclamation. | Biodiversity. | Soil remediation. Classification: LCC QH541.15.R45 B558 2025 (print) | LCC QH541.15.R45 (ebook) | DDC 333.73/153–dc23/eng/20240809 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024023401LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024023402
Cover Design: WileyCover Image: © Anna Kucherova/Shutterstock
List of Contributors
Austin E. AbahDepartment of Animal and Environmental BiologyUniversity of Port HarcourtNigeria
Shubham AbhishekCSIR‐Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa RoadDhanbad, JharkhandIndiaAcademy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR)GhaziabadIndia
Fernando A. AlvarezAdministration DepartmentUniversidad Católica del NorteAntofagastaChile
Valeria AnconaWater Research Institute of the Italian National Research CouncilBariItaly
Arnab BanerjeeDepartment of Environmental ScienceSant Gahira Guru VishwavidyalayaAmbikapur, ChhattisgarhIndia
Kiran BargaliDepartment of Botany, DSB CampusKumaun UniversityNainital, UttarakhandIndia
Surendra Singh BargaliDepartment of Botany, DSB CampusKumaun UniversityNainital, UttarakhandIndia
Nicolas BélangerLaboratoire sur la science des donnéesUniversité du Québec (TÉLUQ)Montréal, QuébecCanada
Simon Bilodeau‐GauthierDirection de la recherche forestièreMinistère des Ressources naturelles et des ForêtsQuébec, QuébecCanada
CK DotaniyaDepartment of Soil Science and Agricultural ChemistrySKRAUBikanerIndia
ML DotaniyaICAR‐Directorate of Rapeseed‐Mustard ResearchBharatpurIndia
RK DoutaniyaDepartment of AgronomySKN College of AgricultureJobnerIndia
Sanat Kumar DwibediOdisha University of Agriculture and TechnologyBhubaneswarIndia
Amlan Kumar GhoshDepartment of Soil Science and Agricultural ChemistryInstitute of Agricultural Sciences, BHUVaranasiIndia
Laurence GrimondLaboratoire sur la science des donnéesUniversité du Québec (TÉLUQ)Montréal, QuébecCanada
Anna GrobelakFaculty of Infrastructure and EnvironmentCzestochowa University of TechnologyCzestochowaPoland
Ksenija JakovljevićDepartment of EcologyInstitute for Biological Research ‘Siniša Stanković’ ‐ National Institute of the Republic of SerbiaUniversity of BelgradeSerbia
Manoj Kumar JhariyaDepartment of Farm ForestrySant Gahira Guru VishwavidyalayaAmbikapur, ChhattisgarhIndia
Rim KhlifaLaboratoire sur la science des donnéesUniversité du Québec (TÉLUQ)Montréal, QuébecCanada
Aneta KowalskaFaculty of Science and TechnologyJan Dlugosz UniversityCzestochowaPoland
Amit KumarSchool of Hydrology and Water ResourcesNanjing University of Information Science and TechnologyNanjingChina
Kuldeep KumarICAR Indian Institute of Soil and Water ConservationDehradunRS KotaIndia
Rupesh KumarJindal Global Business SchoolO.P. Jindal Global UniversitySonipat, HaryanaIndia
Santosh KumarICAR‐Indian Agricultural Research InstituteJharkhandIndia
Elizabeth J. LamChemical Engineering DepartmentUniversidad Católica del NorteAntofagastaChile
Manju LataUniversity of RajasthanJaipurIndia
Jonnada LikhitaDepartment of Fruit ScienceRani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural UniversityJhansi, Uttar PradeshIndia
Justyna Likus‐CieślikDepartment of Ecological Engineering and Forest Hydrology, Faculty of ForestryUniversity of Agriculture in KrakowKrakowPoland
Eberechukwu M. MaduikeDepartment of Animal and Environmental BiologyUniversity of Port HarcourtNigeria
Ebhin MastoEnvironment, Emission and CRM SectionCSIR ‐ Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (Digwadih Campus), PO; FRIDhanbad, JharkhandIndia
HM MeenaICAR‐Central Arid Zone Research InstituteJodhpurIndia
Tomica MišljenovićInstitute of Botany and Botanical GardenFaculty of BiologyUniversity of BelgradeSerbia
Italo L. MontofréMining Business School, ENMUniversidad Católica del NorteAntofagastaChileMining and Metallurgical Engineering DepartmentUniversidad Católica del NorteAntofagastaChile
Aroloye O. NumbereDepartment of Animal and Environmental BiologyUniversity of Port HarcourtNigeria
Victoria C. ObinnaDepartment of Animal and Environmental BiologyUniversity of Port HarcourtNigeria
Marek PająkDepartment of Ecological Engineering and Forest HydrologyFaculty of ForestryUniversity of Agriculture in KrakowKrakowPoland
Bhanu PandeyCSIR‐Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa RoadDhanbad, JharkhandIndia
Vimal Chandra PandeyCSIR‐National Botanical Research InstituteLucknow, Uttar PradeshIndia
Marcin PietrzykowskiDepartment of Ecological Engineering and Forest Hydrology, Faculty of ForestryUniversity of Agriculture in KrakowKrakowPoland
Chandini PradhanDepartment of Soil Science and Agricultural ChemistryInstitute of Agricultural Sciences, BHUVaranasiIndia
Abhishek RajDepartment of Forestry, Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay College of Horticulture and ForestryDr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agriculture UniversitySamastipurBiharIndia
Dragana RanđelovićInstitute for Technology of Nuclear and Other Mineral Raw MaterialsSerbia
David RivestDépartement des sciences naturellesUniversité du Québec en OutaouaisGatineau, QuébecCanada
Katarzyna SadowySGH Warsaw School of EconomicsWarsawPoland
Gaurav SharmaDepartment of Fruit ScienceRani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural UniversityJhansi, Uttar PradeshIndia
Shivali SharmaDepartment of Fruit ScienceRani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural UniversityJhansi, Uttar PradeshIndia
Sunny SharmaDepartment of Horticulture School of AgricultureLovely Professional UniversityPhagwara, PunjabIndia
Sameer ShekharCSIR‐Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa RoadDhanbad, JharkhandIndia
AO ShiraleICAR‐Indian Institute of Soil ScienceBhopalIndia
Saurabh ShuklaFaculty of Civil EngineeringInstitute of Technology, Shri Ramswaroop Memorial UniversityLucknowIndia
Edyta SierkaInstitute of Biology, Biotechnology and Environmental ProtectionUniversity of Silesia in KatowiceKatowicePoland
Preeti SinghICAR‐Indian Agricultural Research InstituteJharkhandIndia
Siddharth SinghCSIR‐Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa RoadDhanbad, JharkhandIndiaAcademy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR)GhaziabadIndia
Barbara StalmachováDepartment of Environmental EngineeringTechnical University of OstravaOstrava‐PorubaCzech Republic
D.D. TewariGayatri Vidyapeeth P.G. CollegeRishi Bhoomi, Risia, BahraichUttar PradeshIndia
Bartłomiej WośDepartment of Ecological Engineering and Forest Hydrology, Faculty of ForestryUniversity of Agriculture in KrakowKrakowPoland
DK YadavICAR‐Indian Institute of Soil ScienceBhopalIndia
RK YadavAgriculture University KotaIndia
Shailesh Kumar YadavDepartment of Environmental ScienceSant Gahira Guru VishwavidyalayaAmbikapur, ChhattisgarhIndia
About the Editor
Dr. Vimal Chandra Pandey is, an applied research scientist, internationally recognized for his research in the area of phytomanagement of polluted sites. Dr. Pandey is listed as the World's Top 2% Scientists, announced by Stanford University, California, United States, and published by Elsevier BV, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. His research focuses mainly on the remediation and management of polluted lands, using ecologically and socio‐economically valuable plants, to regain ecosystem services and support a bio‐based economy as phytoproducts. Dr. Pandey's research interests also lie in fostering phytoremediation for utilizing polluted lands and thereby attaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. His phytoremediation work has led to the extension of phytoremediation beyond its traditional application. He is now engaged in exploring commercial phytoremediation with the least risk, minimum input, and low maintenance. Dr. Pandey worked at CSIR‐National Botanical Research Institute, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, and the Council of Science and Technology, Uttar Pradesh (CSTUP), Lucknow, India. He is the recipient of several awards/honors/fellowships. Dr. Pandey is a member of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management and the National Academy of Sciences, India. Dr. Pandey has published over 114 scientific articles/book chapters in peer‐reviewed journals/books. He is also the author and editor of several books published by Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, and CRC Press, with several more forthcoming. Dr. Pandey is associate editor/editor/academic editor/board member of prestigious journals such as Land Degradation and Development; Restoration Ecology; Ecological Processes; Environment, Development, and Sustainability; Ambio; Environmental Management; Discover Sustainability; Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology; and PLOS ONE by Wiley/Springer/PLOS. He also works/worked as a guest editor for many reputed international journals.
Foreword
It is of immense pleasure that I accept the gracious invitation from Dr. Vimal Chandra Pandey to contribute introductory statements to the notable work entitled Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on Post‐Industrial Land. Continuous increase in post‐industrial land over the world is a serious threat in terms of environmental degradation; the proposed book is an innovative and timely solution to address this global issue. Such industrial activities have several negative impacts on the surrounding environment, including air pollution (i.e., smog and soot), water pollution (i.e., gases, chemicals, heavy metals, radioactive materials, etc.), soil pollution (industrial wastes dumps destroy the soil fertility), greenhouse gas emissions (it releases into the environment by the burning of coal fossil fuels that trap heat and contribute to global climate change), acid rain (coal burning is a major cause of acid rain). Thus, industrial activities and post‐industrial land pose a threat to human health and earth’s natural ecosystems.
Therefore, the eco‐restoration of post‐industrial land worldwide needs wide‐ranging participants, including academia, policymakers, private companies, entrepreneurs, practitioners, and financial institutions alike to discuss and explore the possibilities of integration of biodiversity and ecosystem services into their eco‐restoration approach. There are natural processes that lead to ecosystem recovery; these processes may be slow, namely in initial stages of ecosystem development but affect ecosystem development in long run and lead to formation of sustainable and viable ecosystems. Eco restoration approaches try to use and enhance these natural processes. Revegetated/rehabilitated post‐industrial land helps to achieve the goal of eco‐restoration. It improves substrate characteristics of the post‐industrial land, which are the basic needs for the re‐establishment of desired plant species on such post‐industrial landscapes. Therefore, ecologically and socio‐economically valuable plant species must be screened among diverse geographical limits and should be included in the restoration of post‐industrial land for ecological balance so that a self‐sustaining ecosystem can be established on such land. In this direction, the use of native plant species for plantation is the most viable tool for restoring post‐industrial land at a quicker pace.
This edited book is well‐timed with up‐to‐date information that offers a cutting‐edge synthesis of scientific, experiential, and established knowledge as a single source on different aspects of ecological restoration on post‐industrial land.
I congratulate the editor, Dr. Vimal Chandra Pandey, for bringing out this valuable book published by a renowned publisher Wiley. The book consists of fourteen chapters covering various aspects of biodiversity and ecosystem services on post‐industrial land. I believe this book will be a remarkable asset for researchers, environmentalists, plant scientists, eco‐engineers, practitioners, industry professionals, eco‐planners, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders alike, as well as would provide future directives in R&D to the field of restoration ecology.
08 August 2024
Dr. Jan Frouz Professor and DirectorEnvironmental Centre, Charles University, Prague,Czech Republic
Preface
Globally, the mining and industrial activities are well documented to have vivid environmental impacts. In addition, these activities destroy natural ecosystems and historical sites with high value, creating large post‐industrial areas (fly ash deposits, post‐mining land, red mud dumpsites, oil drilling sites, brownfield land, etc.). Moreover, they can directly impact human health, e.g., through the air and water pollution. Therefore, the post‐mining and post‐industrial lands have gained intensive attention among restoration scientists and applied ecologists aiming to transform such sites into risk‐less biodiversity strongholds. By declaring the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, such efforts have been widened to implement providing ecosystem services to meet the needs of the 21st century and to attain partial goals of UN‐SDGs. Therefore, the restoration of post‐mining and post‐industrial lands on the global scale needs wide‐ranging participants from different countries and from different disciplines, including academia, private companies, policymakers, financial institutions, consultancy firms, local farmers, NGOs, entrepreneurs, practitioners, and other stakeholders alike to discuss the integration of biodiversity and ecosystem services into their ecological restoration. By engaging in ecological restoration, everyone should be involved toward resetting our relationship with nature.
Ecological restoration aims at enhancing the biodiversity and ecosystem services, mostly by implementing natural processes into rehabilitation of disturbed sites. The first goal at post‐mining and post‐industrial lands are often associated with the improvement of substrate characteristics (i.e., physicochemical and biological), which are basic needs for the establishment of everlasting vegetation. The second goal should be focused on the re‐establishment of rich communities of target plant species with biodiversity and their ecosystem services, i.e., pedogenesis, nutrient cycling, habitat for other organisms, food plants for herbivores, carbon sequestration, and aesthetic value. Here I want to explore biodiversity and ecosystem services of rehabilitated post‐industrial land. The species diversity is a useful and often easily measured criterion in restoration projects, although it should be often accompanied by measures of potential for threatened species. Using the proper biodiversity indicators in mining and restoration projects, together with setting the realistic and beneficial conservation aims, allows focusing on the selected aspects of diverse field of ecological restoration and makes the entire process more efficient. During the ecological restoration of lands disturbed by mining and industrial activities, restoration projects must include ecologically and socio‐economically benefits. Therefore, managing biodiversity during ecological restoration of such lands is a major challenge because this may influence the restoration target, which is partially dependent on the values of the stakeholders.
This book will offer how the biodiversity and ecosystem services concepts have been integrated into the restoration and reclamation of post‐industrial lands. Finally, I believe this book will open wider conceptual insights and well‐designed case studies on any general aspects on ecological restoration and biodiversity of such disturbed sites.
Vimal Chandra Pandey
Acknowledgments
I sincerely pay gratitude to Frank Weinreich (Publisher) and Mary Angelin Rose (Production Editor) from Wiley for their excellent support, guidance, and coordination during the production of this fascinating project. I thank all the reviewers for their careful and insightful review of the book chapters. The editor is highly thankful to Professor Jan Frouz, Director, Environmental Centre, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic for writing the foreword at short notice.
1Mining Sustainability: A Reality in Arid Zones
Elizabeth J. Lam1, Italo L. Montofré2,3, and Fernando A. Alvarez4
1 Chemical Engineering Department, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile
2 Mining Business School, ENM, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile
3 Mining and Metallurgical Engineering Department, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile
4 Administration Department, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta, Chile
1.1 Introduction
Mining, one of man's oldest and most important activities (Dubiński 2013; Candeias et al. 2018), has depended on extracted products since the beginning of civilization. Due to the crucial need for materials for industrial and human development, its participation in the economic structure of mining countries and the global economy has greatly increased in the last few decades, currently being one of the world's main economic activities (Lodhia 2018; Lam et al. 2021).
The mining process is based on the extraction and processing of materials of interest (Whitworth et al. 2022). It consists of consecutive operational stages: prospection; exploration; project assessment, development, and construction; resource production and exploitation; and operational closing. These stages may cause environmental and social impacts (Haddaway et al. 2019).
Ore extraction processes have changed with time, forcing the generation of more efficient processes environmentally and community‐friendly. In addition, current trends in the extraction of ore with an increasingly lower grade pose new challenges for waste management, considering the increased number of wastes from mining units. This decreased ore grade is accompanied by a tendency to make new explorations and start new mining operations to balance decreased production, by further extracting and processing ore. This results in increased ore drilling, loading, and transport, thus increasing concentrator capacity and leaching processes. Also, low‐grade ore makes it necessary to transform it into smaller particles, therefore increasing grinding and its associated energy requirements (Lagos et al. 2018).
Analogically, the production and exploitation stages cause environmental impacts such as industrial emission of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, high water consumption for industrial processes, and massive mining wastes (MMWs) such as tailings, residues, slags, sterile material, and solid wastes, among others (Lam et al. 2017, 2020a; Zhou et al. 2021). In addition, mine closing has become one of the most important stages on a global basis since a plan is needed from mining companies to mitigate the negative effects of the extractive mining industry, ensuring the physical and chemical stability of installations and mining wastes, according to the legislation on a country basis. In Chile, the closing plan must safeguard people's lives, health, safety, and the environment, according to law 20.551, regulating the closing and post‐closing phases of mining sites (Lam et al. 2018).
Impacts from mining processes can be classified into six main groups: (i) soil quality, (ii) flora and fauna, (iii) air quality, (iv) water resources, (v) socioeconomic conditions, and (vi) climate change. These impacts make it necessary to face a series of challenges, even more so when the demand for most minerals may increase in the next few years. In addition, considering sustainable energy transition, the mining industry must create new technological developments to exploit increasingly complex ore bodies, accept the requirement to decrease water and energy resources, optimize waste management in the context of a circular economy (CE), and respond to climate change effects due to increased greenhouse gas emissions (Valenta et al. 2019).
Owing to the spatial distribution of resources, mining activity can be developed in different geographic regions, each of them with particular challenges depending on environmental conditions and the nature of mining activity, considering the type of ore and the processing method. These challenges are particularly relevant in arid zones, where impacts are notorious, considering ecosystem fragility and water scarcity (Liu et al. 2019). For these reasons, the mining industry in arid zones faces different challenges to make production sustainable, particularly the supply of critical agents such as water and energy, along with ecosystem preservation. This challenge is faced by using and controlling sustainability indicators for arid zone mining. At present, many factors could be considered sustainability indicators, such as water consumption, electric and fossil energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, land distribution, waste management, and finally, environmental and social impact.
In a different ambit, mining activity evolution has caused an impact on the economic development of many countries such as Chile, where, apart from contributing to the economic development of mining regions, it also influences the development of human beings, who are constantly requiring various mining raw materials and input for creating products and technology for man's progress (Qi 2020). Among mining countries, Chile is a world leader in the production of copper, iodine, rhenium, lithium, molybdenum, boron, silver, and gold (Ministerio de Minería 2022). This brings about great economic benefits, but, on the other hand, it produces a negative environmental impact associated with risks affecting the environment and the population (Castro and Sánchez 2003).
In Chile, mining production became massive in 2001–2015. At the same time, mines aged owing to a decreased ore grade. So, mining activity increased by starting new operations mainly in the country's northern zone, characterized by arid environmental conditions. These zones show scarce rainfall and vegetation, a dry climate, and high differences in temperature between day and night, making it particularly difficult to obtain resources such as water and energy, thus putting ecosystem stability at risk. Hence, sustainable mining must be developed, involving rational natural resource consumption so that annual production cannot jeopardize resources for future generations (Lagos et al. 2018).
1.2 Mining in Chile
1.2.1 Economic Benefits of Chilean Mining
Most Chilean mining industries are located in the northern zone, characterized by extreme climatic conditions. Exploitation, apart from economic benefits, has important impacts on the environment and ecosystems. So, it is essential to address future mining by focusing on sustainability, considering three basic pillars: economic, environmental, and social. Therefore, efforts must be directed to actions for maximizing profits, according to available resources, and preserving natural resources for proper ecosystem functioning and equilibrium. Both aspects must be in agreement with the demands and needs of local and surrounding populations, fostering citizen dialog, commitment, and participation in fair and equitable decision‐making (Aznar‐Sánchez et al. 2019).
1.2.2 Negative Impacts of Chilean Mining
Chilean mining produces great volumes of waste, by extracting, using, and processing ore, which is discarded or accumulated, occupying big spaces. It is estimated that more than one million tons of waste from ore concentration and more than two million tons of sterile material are generated daily. The decreased grade of ore deposits currently exploited and those projected requires treating increasingly higher amounts of ore tonnages to keep or increase production levels. In this context, the amount of waste to be disposed of either as sterile material or tailings will increase. Tailings are estimated to increase twice by 2035. According to Art. 23 D.S 148, 2003 (Sanitary Rules for Dangerous Waste Management), from the Ministry of Health, sterile material, low‐grade ore, leaching wastes, tailings, and debris make up the so‐called MMWs, which result from mining operations (Pérez et al. 2021). Tailings are deposited near mining sites. They can be defined as finely ground material piles consisting of a mixture of gangue, rock fragments, sediments, etc. Tailings are not originally considered “toxic”; however, they can acquire this characteristic when combined with water. Examples of this are arsenic, copper, zinc, lead, etc. (Adiansyah et al. 2015; Peña‐Ortega et al. 2019).
1.2.3 New Mining Process Redefinition
On a country's basis, four technological challenges are defined: facing increasing water and surface scarcity, minimizing infiltration impact and ensuring ore deposit stability; promoting the change of wastes into assets; and fostering community inclusion and agreement. By facing these challenges, new mining is expected to not only be concerned about economic benefits from mineral production and exploitation but also committed to incorporating these sustainability elements in their processes and become an industry more friendly with the environment and the different habitats sharing the territory intervened.
In this new view of mining processes, another great concern is the responsible management of materials with low economic value, which are not of great interest for commercialization and are discarded in the so‐called dumps, originating from overload removal to access materials that are extracted because of their greater economic attraction. Owing to their heterogeneity, particularly in terms of granulometry, they show basic differences with other MMWs such as tailings, which have been further studied (Lam et al. 2020b). In the mining process, overloaded material is removed via drilling, blasting, transport, and downloading (Hartman and Mutmansky 2002). The characteristics of these operations make deposited material quite heterogeneous. No data are available on their initial characterization since they are of little economic interest. Nonetheless, many dumps have been studied in the last few years, considering problems such as acidity generation, slope stability, and erosion.
The accumulation of great amounts of waste highly variable in components and concentration has a negative impact on the environment after the operations close (post‐closing phase) since, in the medium and long term, wastes represent a potential risk and danger due to the adverse change of the natural environment, produced by particulate material, metals, metalloids, contaminant soil, and surface and underground water migration.Both mining projects in exploitation before the passing of Law 20.551 on mining operation closing and new projects must propose a closing plan including activities, measures, and actions mainly directed at maintaining the physical and chemical stabilization of installations. This, added to the increasing community concern about the impact that mining activity could have on the environment and the exposed population's health, forces mining companies to take measures, according to the legislation, and meet the requirements of communities and authorities.
Some MMW potentially risky substances are Cu, Zn, As, Fe, Hg, Pb, Cd, organic and inorganic cyanides, hydrocarbons, blasting wastes, containers and vessels contaminated with these elements, etc. Due to their potential risk, they must be considered in the new definition of more sustainable mining, preventing the eventual threat they represent from becoming a more appealing option for mining companies. These substances should remain as accumulations because, although not economically useful, they make up a potential risk to the surrounding environment. As to heavy metals, they cannot be degraded and, therefore, have a cumulative effect on the environment (Lam et al. 2018; Ghosh and Singh 2005; Kahlon et al. 2018) since they are potentially high contaminants in the food chain and have a dangerous effect on both biological properties and functional and taxonomic soil diversity (Vacca et al. 2012). In this context, soils contaminated with heavy metals put at risk the environment and people's health (Roy and McDonald 2015; Lam et al. 2018) due to biomagnification (Zenker et al. 2014). Thus, it is important to remediate these sites; however, owing to the complexity of these projects, they usually involve high mining costs. Therefore, these processes must be improved by adding new technology with attainable economic results for companies.
MMWs are characterized by high contents of minerals, chemicals, metalloids, and wastes accumulated along the life cycle of a mining project. They represent a potential risk for the environment mainly due to: (i) Heavy metal leaching in underground water, particularly in acid conditions (Puga et al. 2016); (ii) discharge and infiltration of drainage or material that could contaminate surface water resources; (iii) MMW may lose cohesion and collapse over towns and cities; and (iv) climatic conditions such as the wind could cause dragging, releasing contaminants into the atmosphere or settling and contaminating the soil again.
Among MMWs are tailings which, on certain conditions, are exposed to the potential generation of mining acid drainage by exposing sulfur minerals to air, water, microbial processes, and oxidation. This drainage represents one of the main environmental impacts mining must currently face (Broughton and Robertson 1992).
On a national and world basis, data on the remediation and restoration of sites affected by mining is scarce and relatively new. Although there are technologies, they are costly and limited for use since their efficiency and efficacy depend on factors such as particular site conditions (climate, ecosystems, phreatic level, earthquakes), MMW physical and biological characterization, soil availability and use, remediation time (rehabilitation or restoration), potential risks associated or imminent danger, and other related negative and positive impacts. So, in MMW remediation, each case is particular and must, therefore, be studied in itself.
To prevent and control MMW’s negative impacts on people and the environment, they must be managed appropriately. The bioavailability of contaminants (metals, metalloids, etc.) plays a key role in the remediation of a contaminated site. The use of products, technically known as amendments, may decrease or increase contaminant bioavailability, mobility, and pH. Greater contaminant mobility results in a greater transfer from the substrate containing it, thus improving removal and facilitating absorption, either by vegetal species or soil washing. The opposite process is also possible, i.e., using amendments to reduce contaminant mobility to avoid transport into the trophic chain through plant absorption and underground water leaching (Bolan et al. 2014). Amendments are used for producing minerals containing less bioavailable contaminants. This is possible due to the chemical reaction between contaminants and the aggregated product, forming highly insoluble compounds. In this case, the mechanisms involved may be mineral surface adsorption, formation of stable complexes with organic ligands, precipitation (e.g., as salts), and cation exchange capacity (CEC) of soils (Venegas et al. 2016). This technology is applicable in situ and ex situ. Application in situ is a cost‐efficient and environmentally friendly measure, as compared with contaminated substrate removal and disposal on another site (Puga et al. 2015).
Apart from being a positive soil remediation strategy, amendments are a potential alternative for reusing wastes (Venegas et al. 2016). Among amendments to reduce soil metal availability are phosphate fertilizers, organic material or biosolids, iron or manganese hydroxides, natural or artificial clay minerals, and mixtures of them.
In addition, MMW volume and component diversity and concentration make it necessary to assess a second processing line to change wastes into assets both technically and economically.
1.3 Chile: Arid Zone Mining
1.3.1 Mining Impacts on Arid Zones
In arid zones, representing more than 40% of the earth's surface, precipitation does not balance surface evapotranspiration. These zones show an extremely fragile ecological environment quite sensitive to human activities and global climate changes (Shao et al. 2022).
Chilean mining mainly occurs in the country's northern zone. This region, characterized by extreme aridity, faces continuous impacts proper of geographic and ecological units on extreme arid conditions and reduced vegetal coverage. The surface is the result of numerous processes dominated by aridity, scarce precipitation, and wind. The region is also characterized by a 10 mm or less mean annual precipitation rate and up to 10 mm day−1 mean evaporation rates (Wels et al. 2004).
The increasing demand for Cu and related products has increased low‐grade ore processing, with large amounts of associated wastes. Currently, thousands of million tons can be found as Cu tailings in copper‐producing countries. The national mining industry produces 5.8 million tons of fine copper, generating 530 million tons of tailings annually (Villa Gomez et al. 2022; Rubinos et al. 2021). In Chile, metallic mining‐originating tailings are mainly related to Cu and Au. According to the last survey from the National Service of Geology and Mining (SERNAGEOMIN, for its acronym in Spanish) in August 2020, there are 757 tailings in Chile, located in 10 of the 15 regions: 173 are abandoned, 112 are active, 5 in construction, and 467 inactive.
Mining companies are responsible for designing a closing plan, according to Law 20.551. Many abandoned tailings were in such a state when the law was passed in November 2012. So, the state is responsible for them. Of the 112 active tailings, 32 are extremely big in size, i.e., bigger than the authorized 10 million m3, while 72 are medium and small in size. Large‐scale mining companies are estimated to deposit about 15.6 thousand million of m3 tailings at the end of their lifetime, corresponding to 99.5% of the country's total (SERNAGEOMIN 2020). According to SERNAGEOMIN, large‐scale mining operations had deposited 46.7% of the total accepted by the end of their lifetime in 2020. Meanwhile, medium‐ and small‐scale mining companies had deposited 68.7% of the volume authorized by that time. These data allow predicting that the latter are currently in the middle of their lifetime and, thus, in full operation. The problem of tailings can not only be described by the number of tailings but also by their volume reaching 16 840 million of m3 as the total volume accepted, with deposits being distributed in 67 of the 346 countries’ communes. Tailings are unstable in themselves and usually concentrate big amounts of toxic substances (Kossoff et al. 2014). So far, technical and economic resources have been unfortunately insufficient to dispose of tailings safely on a national basis. This involves risks such as: (i) Physical collapse and destabilization caused by earthquakes, poor compaction, and excess fines in sands, among others; (ii) chemical destabilization due to the reaction of solids in water, toxic element solubilization, and mining acid drainage; and (iii) Environmental dispersion and pollution owing to wind currents and erosion. Many tailings are found in arid and semiarid regions, where erosion is greater since, the lower the humidity, the greater the number of particles with a high content of metals and soluble phases emitted by the action of the wind.
On the other hand, the effect of a mining operation on water resources is probably the most significant. To assess this effect, it is necessary to determine if water sources close to the mining area will remain appropriate for human consumption and if water quality will be enough for the regional flora and fauna. Another risk associated with tailings is the potential generation of mining acid drainage, resulting from the reaction of sulfide minerals in the tailing with air and water, which can even be catalyzed by the presence of certain bacteria (Lam et al. 2020a).
With time, this acid leaches metals and other contaminants present in tailings and wastes, resulting in an acid solution rich in sulfates and metals (e.g., cadmium, copper, lead, arsenic, etc.). Even in the absence of an acid environment, the leaching of some minerals such as arsenic, selenium, and others is still a possibility (Peña‐Ortega et al. 2019; Khobragade 2020).
In this context, soil erosion, which is also greater in arid regions, may have several effects on the areas close to mining operations. Erosion refers to surface material loss due to water and wind. In the case of water, erosion may occur because of rain or runoff, where soil particle strength can be overcome by contact with tensile forces. As a whole, owing to particle dragging by the action of water, nearby water bodies can be contaminated, although infrequently, particularly during rainfall, storms, or snow events. These events have historically caused changes in water habitats, along with fines and sediment accumulation in water bodies. Rainfall amount and speed, infiltration rate through the soil, the amount of vegetation in the area, slope length, the separation between the flow origin point and the deposition point, and in general, operational structures for controlling the phenomenon are factors influencing the water erosion process.
The greatest erosion sources in mining operations include “open pits,” heap leach, sterile rock piles, access roads, and tailings dams. Also, impacts vary qualitatively or quantitatively, depending on several factors such as geology, vegetation, topography, climate, and water properties and proximity. Considering the amounts and characteristics of the minerals exposed in operations, it is impossible to generalize sediment loads. Again, there is a variety of potential impacts that could emerge, having negative effects in the short and long terms.
Increased levels of particulate material in surface waters may cause acute and/or permanent toxic effects on fish and other species. Minerals associated with deposited sediments may decrease runoff pH, moving and infiltrating heavy metals into the underground or nearby water bodies. This may produce persistent environmental contamination and also soil pH decrease. In turn, this could cause vegetation and habitat loss. In addition, changes in erosion may affect the physical environment. For example, runoff rate and volume may increase, resulting in inundations, canal undermining, structural damage, etc. In extreme cases, where air erosion deposits acid particles, native vegetation may be destroyed, increasing erosion produced by runoff and, thus, soil removal (Khobragade 2020; Li et al. 2020).
The effects of air quality, mainly produced by atmospheric emissions, can also be discussed. Although these emissions may occur during any stage of the mining process, they generally originate during construction and operation and in waste piles due to dispersion caused by the wind. Most air contaminants from these operations are particulate material carried by the wind due to sources such as material transport, wind erosion, waste piles, dumps, and roads. In addition, exhaust emissions from moving vehicles such as cars, trucks, and others, together with blasts and ore processing, may increase the levels of particulate material. This is particularly important because after entering the atmosphere, it undergoes several physical and chemical changes before getting in contact with a receptor, which may affect human health and the environment. As a whole, mining activity may cause huge environmental damage, particularly by air contamination during operations since each stage of the mining process may emit contaminants as particulate material, including heavy metals, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and NOx gases (Khobragade 2020; Li et al. 2020).
Water cannot be considered a self‐renewable and low‐cost natural resource in most arid regions. So, new supply sources are needed. In this sense, sea water desalination is a technology greatly accepted for arid zones owing to the exhaustion of conventional water resources. Desalination processes in regions under water stress produce negative effects on the sea, heavy energy consumption, and solid wastes during the operational phase (polyamide membranes), among others.
Therefore, it is clear that, although mining is undoubtedly necessary for man's development, it is also destructive because, on the one hand, it can produce health, employment, roads, and infrastructure, but on the other hand, it may cause several negative effects on the environment and people's health on a general and specific basis. It is also important to consider people's perceptions because they frequently feel that their rights are infringed, resulting in social discomfort and eventually conflicts between parties. This usually occurs because studies on environmental impact underestimate or totally ignore its effects. Hence, informed citizen participation must be taken into account for making decisions about these studies.
1.3.2 Sustainable Mining Challenges
As described above, mining exploitation is highly important (He et al. 2017; Ma et al. 2019). So, using different practices is a must for reducing environmental impact and maximizing social and economic benefits for local communities and the environment (Mahapatra and Ghosh 2021). These practices must be directed to minimize water consumption, reduce contamination, and promote ecosystem restoration after exploitation (Gonzalez et al. 2019).
Thus, the big challenges faced by the mining sector are water and energy scarcity since they are insufficient to meet present demands (Leiva González and Onederra 2022).
Considering the main proposals made in different studies, the most important challenges can be summarized as follows:
Water scarcity:
This is one of the most critical challenges due to scarce rainfall in arid zones and the impact of climate change. However, scarcity resulting from the chemical quality of water must also be considered since water contamination due to the lack of environmental regulation before 1994 restricts its use not only for mining activity but also for agriculture.
The use of water has originated in different social and environmental conflicts in the last two decades since it is extracted mainly from millenary aquifers hydraulically connected with important Andes wetlands (Carvalho 2017). In arid zones, using it for mining affects water availability for local communities and agriculture. Thus, different practices and technologies have been implemented for sustainable mining in these zones, e.g., water recycling and use in the mining process and the exploration of alternative water sources (Jiang et al. 2019; Oyarzún and Oyarzún 2011).
According to predictions, total water consumption for Chilean copper mining will increase by 2.1% annual average in 2031 (COCHILCO 2020), while energy consumption will increase by 3.05% annual average in the same year (Abarca and Lucero, 2024). Therefore, the mining industry is currently focusing on the use of sea water and renewable energies to expand its operations. However, an efficient energy plan is needed to avoid increasing energy consumption (Leiva González and Onederra 2022).
Extreme climate:
Extreme temperatures and the absence of rainfall make mining more difficult and costly, increasing workers' health and safety risks (Pearce et al.
2011
).
Soil degradation:
Ore extraction and infrastructure construction can damage the soil and reduce its capacity for sustaining vegetal and animal life. Some studies propose restoring soils, including planting and artificial wetlands (Moreno et al.
2007
; Freedman et al.
2014
).
Impact on nearby communities:
