Avoiding tailings dam collapses requires governance, partnership and responsibility

Silveira, Fernando A. O.; Gama, Evandro Moraes da; Dixon, Kingsley W.; Cross, Adam T.

doi:10.1007/s10531-019-01752-5

Cited by 14 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…In 2015, the Fundão tailings dam collapsed, dumping 35–43 million m 2 of iron residue into the Rio Doce Basin, an important river in south‐eastern Brazil (Carmo et al ., 2017; Hatje et al ., 2017). More recently, in 2019, the Córrego do Feijão tailings dam in the municipality of Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, collapsed, spilling 12 million m 3 of mining tailings into the Rio Paraopeba, a tributary of Rio São Francisco, one of the biggest rivers in South America (Silveira et al ., 2019; Virgilio et al ., 2020) (Figures 1 and 2).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When destruction comes first: Two new species of Hypostomus Lacépède, 1803 (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from a deeply‐impacted river in the Rio São Francisco basin in Brazil

Penido

Pessali

Zawadzki

2021

Journal of Fish Biology

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Environmental disasters affecting Brazilian rivers have been frequent recently, especially involving mining activities. Two recent dam-rupture events suddenly released millions of cubic meters of iron tailings downstream into two major Brazilian watersheds. These events generated major losses to the environment and human life.Additionally, the biodiversity in both watersheds was still incompletely known. Two new species of the armoured catfish genus Hypostomus were discovered in the Rio Paraopeba and surrounding rivers of the Rio São Francisco Basin. The species share some main characteristics including a depressed body, large dark spots on a clearer background and the absence of keels on flanks. However, while one species (Hypostomus freirei sp. n.) has a large mandibular ramus and numerous slender teeth, the other (Hypostomus guajupia sp. n.) has a shorter mandibular ramus and few robust teeth. The discovery of these two new mid-sized fish species emphasizes the presumption that the effects of major environmental disasters cannot be fully estimated as local biodiversity is not completely known. This discovery in a recently devastated area also shows that tough environmental laws for the protection, supervision and mitigation of major impacts are urgently needed in developing countries.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When destruction comes first: Two new species of Hypostomus Lacépède, 1803 (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from a deeply‐impacted river in the Rio São Francisco basin in Brazil

Penido

Pessali

Zawadzki

2021

Journal of Fish Biology

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“…However, the standards also provide limited advice on the methodology required to monitor these interactions and complexity. If practitioners around the world are to meet and exceed, the growing societal and regulatory expectations for ecological recovery placed upon them (Stevens et al, ; Cross et al ), they need strong leadership that provides unambiguous and internationally consistent guidance on how these expectations can be attained (Silveira et al ). Where the political environment is such that governments are permitting habitat clearance but are unwilling or unable to provide this leadership to ensure fauna losses do not ensue, the scientific community must take on this mantle not only to advocate for change on their behalf, but also to provide clear, evidence‐based and effective standards and solutions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Restoration goals: Why are fauna still overlooked in the process of recovering functioning ecosystems and what can be done about it?

Cross¹,

Bateman²,

Cross³

2019

Eco Management Restoration

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The project arose from knowledge gaps identified through a literature review of fauna responses to mine site restoration, and an interest in stimulating further discussion on this topic at a time where such discussion will contribute to the international debate of what constitutes effective restoration..Summary Despite the evidence that fauna play complex and critical roles in ecosystems (e.g. pollination and nutrient cycling) and the knowledge that they need to be considered in restoration, fauna often remain poorly represented in restoration goal setting, monitoring and assessments of restoration success. Fauna clearly are integral to the aspirations of achieving full ecosystem recovery. However, over-reaching assumptions about the unassisted return of fauna to restored sites, low investment in fauna monitoring, and minimal consideration of the requirements for fauna monitoring in regulatory guidance and standards appear to have led to the historically vegetation-centric approaches to rehabilitation and ecological restoration. We argue that ecological complexities render assumptions of unassisted fauna return inappropriate in many situations and may represent a missed opportunity to enhance ecological outcomes and improve restoration trajectories. We advocate for greater consideration of fauna as facilitators of ecological restoration and, particularly for well-funded projects, for monitoring to place greater emphasis on examining the behaviour and resilience of restored fauna communities. There is a clear need for both industry and regulators to recognise that fauna can be crucial facilitators of restoration and appreciate that the return and monitoring of functional faunal communities can be costly, challenging and may require detailed study across a wide range of taxonomic groups. Failure to advance from business as usual models may risk leaving a legacy of ostensibly functional, but biodiversity-depauperate, restored ecosystems.

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“…Despite passing stability tests just months prior 3 , video footage of the moment of collapse suggests the dam underwent a sudden failure that extended across the full 720 m width and 86 m height of the dam 4 . The report of the expert panel 5 suggests that the cause of Dam I collapse was the result of a flow (static) liquefaction mechanism, resulting from internal creep combined with the loss of suction induced by heavy rainfall during the annual wet season (from about October 2018 to the time of the failure).…”

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confidence: 99%

Advanced analysis of satellite data reveals ground deformation precursors to the Brumadinho Tailings Dam collapse

Grebby

Sowter²,

Gluyas

et al. 2021

Commun Earth Environ

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Catastrophic failure of a tailings dam at an iron ore mine complex in Brumadinho, Brazil, on 25th January 2019 released 11.7 million m3 of tailings downstream. Although reportedly monitored using an array of geotechnical techniques, the collapse occurred without any apparent warning. It claimed more than 200 lives and caused considerable environmental damage. Here we present the Intermittent Small Baseline Subset (ISBAS) technique on satellite-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data to assess the course of events. We find that parts of the dam wall and tailings were experiencing deformation not consistent with consolidation settlement preceding the collapse. Furthermore, we show that the timing of the dam collapse would have been foreseeable based on this observed precursory deformation. We conclude that satellite-based monitoring techniques may help mitigate similar catastrophes in the future.

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Avoiding tailings dam collapses requires governance, partnership and responsibility

Cited by 14 publications

References 7 publications

When destruction comes first: Two new species of Hypostomus Lacépède, 1803 (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from a deeply‐impacted river in the Rio São Francisco basin in Brazil

When destruction comes first: Two new species of Hypostomus Lacépède, 1803 (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from a deeply‐impacted river in the Rio São Francisco basin in Brazil

Restoration goals: Why are fauna still overlooked in the process of recovering functioning ecosystems and what can be done about it?

Advanced analysis of satellite data reveals ground deformation precursors to the Brumadinho Tailings Dam collapse

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