A global-scale data set of mining areas

Maus, Victor; Giljum, Stefan; Gutschlhofer, Jakob; Silva, Dieison Morozoli da; Probst, Michael; Gass, Sidnei Luís Bohn; Luckeneder, Sebastian; Lieber, Mirko; McCallum, Ian

doi:10.1038/s41597-020-00624-w

Cited by 135 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…While our data shows large overlaps between extractive concessions and tropical IFLs, any mining operation's direct footprint (e.g., drill pads, roads) is likely to be far smaller than the total concession area. For example, Maus et al (2020) predict the global mining footprint at around 57,000 km 2 , which in itself is an order of magnitude smaller than the mining claims within this analysis. However, it is clear that the indirect impacts of extractive projects almost always extend far beyond their direct footprint (Suárez et al, 2009;Sonter et al, 2018;Johnson et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

The Emerging Threat of Extractives Sector to Intact Forest Landscapes

Grantham

Tibaldeschi²,

Izquierdo³

et al. 2021

Front. For. Glob. Change

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As demand for commodities increases globally, resource-rich countries are focal areas for industrial expansion. The extractives sector is driving unprecedented growth of infrastructure (e.g., roads, railways and pipelines) into sparsely populated regions, which contain some of the world’s remaining intact forests. Yet, the extent of the threat posed by an increased footprint of extractive industries is not well understood. Here we provide a novel global assessment of the potential threat posed to tropical Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs), continuous patches of forest that have no remotely sensed signs of human activity or forest fragmentation, from the extractives sector including mining, oil and gas projects, using one of the most extensive global spatial datasets on extractives concessions to date. We found ∼20% of the global tropical IFL estate is designated as extractive’s concessions, presenting an enormous threat to these forests. Oil and gas concessions overlap with 408,000 km2 of tropical IFLs (7.85% of total IFL area), with the biggest overlap in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Papua New Guinea. Mining concessions overlap with 589,000 km2 (11.33%) of tropical IFL area, mainly in Brazil and Democratic Republic of Congo. As the majority of concessions overlapping IFLs are currently at the exploration stages for all types of extractives, now is the time to plan for reducing the potential threat through strategies such as identifying “no go” areas and applying the mitigation hierarchy. Nations and investors should undertake regional strategic environmental assessments to reduce impacts, including potential indirect and cumulative impacts of multiple projects and other threats in the landscape. We also call for banks that funders of extractives projects to apply global best practice industry environmental safeguards that recognize the value of intact forests and the risk of cumulative impacts to these unique sites.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

The Emerging Threat of Extractives Sector to Intact Forest Landscapes

Grantham

Tibaldeschi²,

Izquierdo³

et al. 2021

Front. For. Glob. Change

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“…From a spatial extent, mining was also shown to have a small impact on the amount and rate of deforestation because the areal coverage is small, yet mining will result in the building of new roads, which will trigger further exploitation and possibly lead to other forms of anthropogenic drivers such as subsistence or even commercial agriculture. A recent exercise in visual interpretation of satellite imagery for mining areas by Maus et al (2020) revealed that more than 50% of mines were concentrated in only five countries, three of which are partly covered here: Australia, China, and Chile. This sample data set could be integrated into the map of drivers of forest loss in the future.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

A Continental Assessment of the Drivers of Tropical Deforestation With a Focus on Protected Areas

Fritz

Bayas

Schepaschenko

et al. 2022

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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Deforestation contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions and must be reduced if the 1.5°C limit to global warming is to be realized. Protected areas represent one intervention for decreasing forest loss and aiding conservation efforts, yet there is intense human pressure on at least one-third of protected areas globally. There have been numerous studies addressing the extent and identifying drivers of deforestation at the local, regional, and global level. Yet few have focused on drivers of deforestation in protected areas in high thematic detail. Here we use a new crowdsourced data set on drivers of tropical forest loss for the period 2008–2019, which has been collected using the Geo-Wiki crowdsourcing application for visual interpretation of very high-resolution imagery by volunteers. Extending on the published data on tree cover and forest loss from the Global Forest Change initiative, we investigate the dominant drivers of deforestation in tropical protected areas situated within 30° north and south of the equator. We find the deforestation rate in protected areas to be lower than the continental average for the Latin Americas (3.4% in protected areas compared to 5.4%) and Africa (3.3% compared to 3.9%), but it exceeds that of unprotected land in Asia (8.5% compared to 8.1%). Consistent with findings from foregoing studies, we also find that pastures and other subsistence agriculture are the dominant deforestation driver in the Latin Americas, while forest management, oil palm, shifting cultivation and other subsistence agriculture dominate in Asia, and shifting cultivation and other subsistence agriculture is the main driver in Africa. However, we find contrasting results in relation to the degree of protection, which indicate that the rate of deforestation in Latin America and Africa in strictly protected areas might even exceed that of areas with no strict protection. This crucial finding highlights the need for further studies based on a bottom up crowdsourced, data collection approach, to investigate drivers of deforestation both inside and outside protected areas.

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“…Water is needed for a broad range of activities in the mining process such as mineral processing and dust suppression (Garner et al, 2012). We use the major mineral deposits of the world dataset provided by U.S. Geological Survey (Schulz and Briskey, 2005) in combination with the global-scale data set of mining areas to identify locations with mining potential (Maus et al, 2020). The USGS dataset provides the geographical location of deposits of major non-fuel mineral commodities whereas the latter dataset identifies mining areas using satellite images.…”

Section: Demand and Supply Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%