Mining Site Reclamation Planning Based on Land Suitability Analysis and Ecosystem Services Evaluation: A Case Study in Liaoning Province, China

Abstract

Abstract:Restoration of the degraded ecosystem is a global priority for achieving sustainable development. Although increasing ecosystem service is an important goal of ecological restoration, it is rarely used to inform mine reclamation. This study proposed a reclamation strategy that incorporated land suitability analysis and ecosystem service evaluation for a mining site in Liaoning Province, China. We assessed the land suitability for three reclamation alternatives and identified suitable land uses for each location by comparing their suitability levels. For areas that were suitable for multiple land uses with the same suitability level, the future land uses cannot be identified by land suitability analysis alone, and we employed ecosystem services evaluation to determine the optimal reclamation strategy. The results showed that forest could be restored throughout the entire mining site, agricultural land were most suitable in the western and southern parts, and developed land were in northern parts that were closer to roads and city centers. Our study showed that a large mining site can be reclaimed to different land uses and provided a practical framework for integrating ecosystem services into mine reclamation.

Restoration scenario planning at a Spanish quarry can be informed by assessing ecosystem services

“…Under those circumstances, the alternative of a wetlandagriculture mix in a compromise scenario may be more compelling for the quarry operators in the study site. Although ES assessments can provide data to support decision-making on outcomes under different postmining scenarios (Wilker et al 2016;Wang et al 2017), our results do not entail a definitive answer regarding what the correct restoration strategy is. Instead, the strength of this ES assessment relies on displaying available data to compare ES delivery, and the possibility to integrate results in restoration planning to assist decisionmakers (Saarikoski et al 2018).…”

Assessing Ecosystem Services from the Forestry-Based Reclamation of Surface Mined Areas in the North Fork of the Kentucky River Watershed

“…Reclamation would also require to consider land suitability. For example, mining sites that are close to developed areas may be more suitable to be developed to residential, commercial or industrial area and mining sites away from human settlement can be restored to forest [55]. The proper reclamation planning should consider both land suitability and ecosystem services that are needed to restore for the people living in the surrounding communities.…”

Field surveys and revegetation experiments show that simulation of topographical habitat features could improve the chances of successful restoration for the threatened succulent Juttadinteria albata

“…The influence of aspect on plant distribution and abundance is a well‐known phenomenon (e.g. Sternberg & Shoshany ; Farzam & Ejtehadi ; Pelletier et al ; Wang et al ). In the southern hemisphere tropics, northern and northwestern aspects present harsher habitat conditions because they face the sun for most of the day, while southern and southeastern aspects tend to be gentler (Esler et al ; Pelletier et al ).…”