Managing and Reforesting Degraded Post-Mining Landscape in Indonesia: A Review

Abstract

Tropical forests are among the most diverse ecosystems in the world, completed by huge biodiversity. An expansion in natural resource extraction through open-pit mining activities leads to increasing land and tropical forest degradation. Proper science-based practices are needed as an effort to reclaim their function. This paper summarizes the existing practice of coal mining, covering the regulatory aspects and their reclamation obligations, the practices of coal mining from various sites with different land characteristics, and the reclamation efforts of the post-mining landscapes in Indonesia. The regulations issued accommodate the difference between mining land inside the forest area and outside the forest area, especially in the aspect of the permit authority and in evaluating the success rate of reclamation. In coal-mining practices, this paper describes starting from land clearing activities and followed by storing soil layers and overburden materials. In this step, proper handling of potentially acid-forming materials is crucial to prevent acid mine drainage. At the reclamation stage, this paper sequentially presents research results and the field applications in rearranging the overburden and soil materials, controlling acid mine drainage and erosion, and managing the drainage system, settling ponds, and pit lakes. Many efforts to reclaim post-coal-mining lands and their success rate have been reported and highlighted. Several success stories describe that post-coal-mining lands can be returned to forests that provide ecosystem services and goods. A set of science-based best management practices for post-coal-mine reforestation is needed to develop to promote the success of forest reclamation and restoration in post-coal-mining lands through the planting of high-value hardwood trees, increasing trees’ survival rates and growth, and accelerating the establishment of forest habitat through the application of proper tree planting technique. The monitoring and evaluation aspect is also crucial, as corrective action may be taken considering the different success rates for different site characteristics.

Plant–plant interactions determine natural restoration of plant biodiversity over time, in a degraded mined land

“…Mining limestone for cement is a major industrial activity in at least 15 countries (Mucina et al, 2019 ; Pratiwi et al, 2021 ). Today, the number of ecosystems destroyed by these mining activities is increasing, and many studies have shown negative impacts of the presence of post‐mining sites on ecosystem health (Palmer et al, 2010 ).…”

“…Ecologists preferably emphasize the re‐establishment or increase of biodiversity as a goal of restoration. Biodiversity is typically associated with the increase in ecosystem functions or ecosystem services (Mucina et al, 2019 ; Pratiwi et al, 2021 ; Rey Benayas et al, 2008 ). In this regard, assessing biodiversity and ecosystem services in post‐mining sites has received wide attention among restoration scientists (Pitz et al, 2015 ).…”

Ecological Restoration of Degraded Habitats of Jajang Iron and Manganese Ore Mines, Keonjhar, Odisha, India

“…Grassroots with their fibrous root systems, are said to help limit erosion, stabilize soil and conserve moisture [37]. Furthermore, the importance of grass species cover as nurse crops for later colonizers has been extensively documented [29,40,41]. Aside from the importance of species rich families of herbaceous species for restoration, measuring one of the key phytosociological attributes i.e.…”

Restoring coal mine degraded lands in India for achieving the United Nations‐Sustainable Development Goals

“…Moreover, authors reported higher plant biomass in shorted duration compared to natural succession (Juwarkar et al 2009; Raghunathan et al 2021). Application of symbiotic soil microbes such as mycorrhizal fungi improves the soil quality, efficacy of seedlings survival, and plant growth at coal mined lands in other parts of the world (Pratiwi et al 2021). Recent advances in the restoration of mine degraded lands demonstrated the development of a multifunctional ecosystem such as agriculture and food production, timber and non‐timber forest products, generating a pool of biological diversity, enhancing tourism, development of eco‐parks, and enhancing cultural and educational values for the future and most importantly plays a role in regulating ecosystem services like carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation (Borišev et al 2018; Salgueiro et al 2020).…”