Planning mine restoration through ecosystem services to enhance community engagement and deliver social benefits

Abstract

Mining companies are expected to return land to a stable, productive, and self‐sustaining condition by rehabilitating degraded areas to also deliver social benefits, an essential dimension of sustainable land management. This research aimed to develop a framework for mine rehabilitation planning based on an integrated analysis of the social‐ecological system provided by the ecosystem services concept to facilitate community engagement and the delivery of social benefits. An Ecosystem Services Assessment for Rehabilitation framework was tested at two bauxite mines undergoing ecological restoration. The mines are operated by the same company in two countries. Key results showed that the framework can help companies, regulators, and community members alike identify whether biophysical restoration efforts translate into key human benefits. Overall the framework provides a means for enhancing community engagement to explicitly address social benefits that, with a business as usual focus on ecological goals, may not be delivered. The ecosystem services concept provides a practical approach to link ecological and social outcomes of mine restoration.

International principles and standards for the ecological restoration and recovery of mine sites

“…social‐ecological systems, corporate social responsibility, SIA) in environmental planning and management is now well recognized (i.e. ecosystem services) (see Principle 1) (Petkova et al 2009; Frederiksen 2018; Rosa et al 2020). After informed, open and meaningful consultation with stakeholders, social goals should be identified in the MCP, including descriptions of the rationale for any trade‐offs between ecological and social costs and benefits.…”

“…socialecological systems, corporate social responsibility, SIA) in environmental planning and management is now well recognized (i.e. ecosystem services) (see Principle 1) (Petkova et al 2009;Frederiksen 2018;Rosa et al 2020).…”

Direct and indirect socio‐economic benefits from ecological infrastructure interventions in the Western Cape, South Africa

“…Case‐studies outside South Africa describing successful implementations of ecological restoration explain how the interventions were able to restore a sense of local stewardship and enable collective community action by supporting livelihood diversification due to the restored ecosystem services (Adams et al 2016; Kittinger et al 2016; Swart Jac et al 2018). Several examples alike emphasize the importance of engaging and strengthening local communities to achieve long‐term and sustainable establishment of the restoration initiatives (Egan 2011; Reyes‐García et al 2019; Rosa et al 2020). In most cases, there is a need for investments in ecological restoration to target ecosystem services that marginalized communities can benefit from (Blignaut et al 2013; Baker & Eckerberg 2016; Paudyal et al 2017; Perring et al 2018).…”

Evaluation of Remote Sensing Ecological Index Based on Soil and Water Conservation on the Effectiveness of Management of Abandoned Mine Landscaping Transformation

“…Ecological restoration and environmental protection management of mines are currently the focus of global attention [ 1 ] and is a global concern. As a special landscape remnant of the human transformation of nature, mining relics can be transformed into parks by means of landscape transformation [ 2 ].…”