Integrated and Sustainable Management of Post-industrial Coasts

Abstract

The sustainable management of post-industrial coasts is a major emerging issue globally. Along such coasts, there may be a significant legacy of both contaminated land (including historic landfills and non-managed waste disposal) and contaminated sediments in and around urban and industrial areas, which require new strategies for cost-effective and integrated risk management under future sea-level rise and climate change scenarios. Here, we review current approaches to managing contamination in post-industrial coastlines, discuss emerging integrated management strategies (building on low input approaches to sustainable brownfields regeneration) and present an approach and framework for assessing and comparing different scenarios for coastal brownfield regeneration to soft re-use and other end-points. This framework can be applied to explore the opportunities for synergy and realization of wider environmental, economic and societal benefits between coastal protection, dredged material re-use and the management of brownfield land. As such, the approach we propose supports planning and options appraisal to realize maximum benefit and value from integrated coastal management strategies.

Phytomanagement of Metal(loid)-Contaminated Soils: Options, Efficiency and Value

“…LCA studies clearly attested that the sustainable management of contaminated sites can provide positive environmental and socioeconomic outputs (Vigil et al, 2015;O'Connor et al, 2019), bringing meaningful benefits for a country's development. A central and up-to-date environmental benefit of soil rehabilitation encompasses climate change mitigation, through the increase of soil C sequestration (Paustian et al, 2019;Kasanke et al, 2021;Souki et al, 2021), which can help tackling the net-zero carbon targets in urban and sub-urban areas (Olsson et al, 2019;Bardos et al, 2020). Carbon neutrality is a multinational pledge that is gaining momentum and is supporting efforts toward including degraded land conversion actions in decarbonation strategies (Lask et al, 2021).…”

“…The recovery of TE-polluted land is critical to enhance soil ecosystem services, as well as to decrease the contamination of the soil matrix itself, together with that of recipient waterbodies and food crops, thus ensuring human welfare. Additionally, the reclamation of contaminated sites through phytomanagement creates a set of opportunities to comply with the net-zero carbon emissions targets, by generating areas that act as carbon sinks and by implementing programs for valuing land that commensurate with the current sustainability paradigm (Bardos et al, 2016(Bardos et al, , 2020Cundy et al, 2021). Furthermore, the use of contaminated lands for bioenergy production can importantly reduce the clearing of agricultural/fertile areas for this purpose, leading to greenhouse gas emission savings (Mellor et al, 2021).…”

“…In the recent past, phytotechnologies were combined with sustainable site management practices, giving birth to a wider approach-phytomanagement-where environmental benefits are allied with financial returns for stakeholders, and/or wider social and economic benefits to the surrounding community (Robinson et al, 2009;Cundy et al, 2016;Burges et al, 2018;Li et al, 2018;Bardos et al, 2020). Beside presenting a plethora of ecological benefits such as the progressive reestablishment of soil health and decreased TE run-off risks, phytomanagement places emphasis on obtaining economic profits by using cash crops to produce biomass for renewable energy and valuable materials (Evangelou et al, 2015;Kidd et al, 2015;Cundy et al, 2016;Šimek et al, 2017;Thijs et al, 2018;Xue et al, 2018).…”

Potential ability of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) to phytomanage an urban brownfield soil

“…The lack of specific policy instruments and guidelines on the reuse of contaminated soils can impede sustainable remediation even in countries with well-developed policies and regulatory frameworks (Reinikainen et al 2016 ; Moreira et al 2021 ). In parallel, prospects and threats regarding future land use, e.g., options of site redevelopment and the potential long-term liabilities, in line with economic and social uncertainties, influence the strategy for risk management and the desired remediation level, the trend being to do more than required after risk assessment (Bardos et al 2020 ; Moreira et al 2021 ). Progress toward sustainable land management of contaminated soils is driven by several generic elements: e.g., increased recognition of environmental impacts and benefits of remediation, stakeholders’ demand for more sustainable practices, lack of regulatory requirements, economic considerations, and institutional pressure that promotes sustainable practices (Hou et al 2014 ; Rizzo et al 2016 ; Bardos et al 2018 , 2020 ).…”

“…In parallel, prospects and threats regarding future land use, e.g., options of site redevelopment and the potential long-term liabilities, in line with economic and social uncertainties, influence the strategy for risk management and the desired remediation level, the trend being to do more than required after risk assessment (Bardos et al 2020 ; Moreira et al 2021 ). Progress toward sustainable land management of contaminated soils is driven by several generic elements: e.g., increased recognition of environmental impacts and benefits of remediation, stakeholders’ demand for more sustainable practices, lack of regulatory requirements, economic considerations, and institutional pressure that promotes sustainable practices (Hou et al 2014 ; Rizzo et al 2016 ; Bardos et al 2018 , 2020 ). The European Parliament has just adopted a resolution in this way for the soil protection and the remediation of contaminated soils (European Parliament 2021 ).…”