Mining and biodiversity: key issues and research needs in conservation science

Abstract

Mining poses serious and highly specific threats to biodiversity. However, mining can also be a means for financing alternative livelihood paths that, over the long-term, may prevent biodiversity loss. Complex and controversial issues associated with mining and biodiversity conservation are often simplified within a narrow frame oriented towards the negative impacts of mining at the site of extraction, rather than posed as a series of challenges for the conservation science community to embrace. Here, we synthesize core issues that, if better understood, may ensure coexistence between mining and conservation agendas. We illustrate how mining impacts biodiversity through diverse pathways and across spatial scales. We argue that traditional, site-based conservation approaches will have limited effect in preventing biodiversity loss against an increasing mining footprint, but opportunities to improve outcomes (e.g. through long-term strategic assessment and planning) do exist. While future mineral supply is uncertain, projections suggest demand will grow for many metals and shift mining operations towards more dispersed and biodiverse areas. Initiating dialogue between mining companies, policy-makers and conservation organizations is urgent, given the suite of international agendas simultaneously requiring more minerals but less biodiversity loss.

Keywords: biodiversity; conservation; energy; fossil fuels; minerals; mining.

Figure 1.

Body of evidence, with examples, of different impacts of mining on biodiversity across spatial scales (site, landscape to region, global) and their causal pathway (defined as either a proximate cause of biodiversity impact related to mining industry, other related industries (e.g. mineral processing or transportation infrastructure) or external stakeholders (i.e. surrounding farmers)). See the electronic supplementary material, S2 for search terms, reviewed papers and analysis methods. See the electronic supplementary material, S3 for references cited as examples.

Figure 2.

Distribution of operating metal mines and prospecting projects [39] among Earth's terrestrial biomes [40]. Mine symbol colour distinguishes between metals (lead/zinc, copper, nickel) and symbol size depicts reserve size (Mt). The three bar graphs represent each metal tonnage per biome and the biome numbers are found in the key.

Figure 3.

Distribution of a subset of current and future cobalt mines [82] and digitized estimates of marine cobalt crusts [83,84] overlaid with the degree of human footprint (HFP) indicators for terrestrial and marine systems [45,85]. An HFP score of ‘0’ is defined as ‘wilderness’ with no evidence of significant human influence, low scores (e.g. less than 4) are areas of low human pressure on the environment where higher scores (greater than 7) indicate significant human pressure.