CESMINE: Towards Positive Post-Mining Legacies
Closed mines are being transformed — some into farms and new woodlands, others into tourist attractions, cultural venues or impressive renewable energy sites. As mine rehabilitation and repurposing are a relatively new phenomenon, little is known about the social and cultural benefits that post-mining sites provide to local and wider communities.
Our new project CESMINE explores socio-economic rehabilitation after small-scale mining producing industrial minerals and construction materials— also called quarrying — through the lens of community environmental interactions and benefits, known as cultural ecosystem services, provided by post-mining sites.
Quarrying remains of great economic importance for the EU. Substantial parts of densely populated European areas are being reshaped by irreversible and long-lasting landscape changes. In northwest Europe, approximately 7,200 open pits and quarries cover around 250,000 ha where they frequently disturb sensitive ecosystems and places of cultural and community values. The disturbances affect interactions between people and environment that are significant for people’s quality of life and well-being.
The importance of these social-ecological interactions is being increasingly recognised worldwide, especially in city planning. However, more dedicated attention is required to acknowledge the significance of human-nature links in areas affected by mining, both during the life of mines and in the planning for mine closure.
Underestimated opportunities
Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) are the non-material benefits that people obtain from the environment. The difference between CES and other more tangible services that ecosystems provide (such as the provision of resources or climate regulation) is that CES are primarily driven by human experience and perception. CES include, for example, recreation and reflection, aesthetic enjoyment, education and spiritual enrichment. They contribute to place attachment, foster community cohesion and identity, and are essential for human health and well-being. Benefits obtained through CES are mostly intangible and therefore difficult to quantify and measure.
The importance of CES has been neglected by many mining companies and regulators in planning for mine closure and post-mining land use. CES may, however, become an important element in the transition from a mining to a post-mining economy. Through CES, a more comprehensive and inclusive dialogue about post-mining futures of current mining regions may be facilitated — by emphasising the multiple ways in which rehabilitated mine sites can be used and appreciated by people, and by demonstrating how these different values are beneficial for local and wider communities.
Incorporating the diversity of values associated with ecosystems within closure planning and policy will help to understand and recognise community needs — and to address them more comprehensively in planning processes.
Planning for CES as part of post-mining land use may motivate people to learn more about their surroundings, help them to develop attachments to new post-mining landscapes and to become more proactive in engaging with local authorities in land care and management. Incorporating CES to closure planning of mines and quarries in regions with shrinking populations may even drive people’s motivation to stay in the region.
About CESMINE
CESMINE is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant scheme. The project started in September 2021 and will be running for two years.
In CESMINE, we highlight the importance of the interactions between people and landscapes in mine closure planning.
CESMINE explores the complexity of socio-economic rehabilitation after quarrying by analysing the preferences of social network users for post-mining sites and the perspectives of stakeholders involved in planning for closure and mine rehabilitation. We are interested in quantifying the relationships between the use of rehabilitated quarries by locals and tourists, rehabilitation planning practices and the CES provided by the sites.
The project combines quantitative and qualitative methods, using techniques such as social media data analyses, semi-structured interviews, participatory GIS, and spatially explicit indicators of CES. These methods will be applied in a cross-site and cross-country comparison between three European countries — Germany, Denmark and Czech Republic.
CESMINE is a collaborative project between the University of Göttingen (coordinator), the University of Copenhagen and the industry partner Českomoravský štěrk from HeidelbergCement Group. This cross-disciplinary as well as cross-country collaboration brings new skills and knowledge together in order to extend the impact of the project beyond narrow academic audiences to mining industries, regulators and minerals policy frameworks.
Expected contributions
CESMINE is not only a project, but it also creates a platform for raising awareness and sharing knowledge about the wide range of community benefits and other cultural ecosystem services provided by rehabilitated mines and quarries, and their importance for creating positive post-closure legacies.
Through CESMINE, we will get a better understanding of the role of cultural ecosystem services in successful transition from mining to post-mining environments, and of how different planning and land use management practices contribute to this transition.
For more information on my personal background and research interests, have a look at my previous post. You can also find me on Research Gate.
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