Mining threats in high-level biodiversity conservation policies

Amid a global infrastructure boom, there is increasing recognition of the ecological impacts of the extraction and consumption of construction minerals, mainly processed as concrete, including significant and expanding threats to global biodiversity. We investigated how high-level national and international biodiversity conservation policies address mining threats, with a special focus on construction minerals. We conducted a review and quantified the degree to which threats from mining these minerals are addressed in biodiversity goals and targets under the 2011-2020 and post-2020 biodiversity strategies, national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and the assessments of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Mining appeared rarely in national targets but more frequently in national strategies. Yet, in most countries, it was superficially addressed. Coverage of aggregates mining was greater than coverage of limestone mining. We outline 8 key components, tailored for a wide range of actors, to effectively mainstream biodiversity conservation into the extractive, infrastructure, and construction sectors. Actions include improving reporting and monitoring systems, enhancing the evidence base around mining impacts on biodiversity, and modifying the behavior of financial agents and businesses. Implementing these measures could pave the way for a more sustainable approach to construction mineral use and safeguard biodiversity.

A.T. and L.M.N. received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement numbers 846474 and 101106872. A.T. is funded by the Generalitat Valenciana (CIDEIG/2022/44). S.O.S.E.z.E. was supported through NERC's EnvEast Doctoral Training Partnership (grant NE/L002582/1), and EU Horizon 2020 project SUPERB (grant agreement 101036849). L.M.N. and F.F. were supported by the SUMHAL project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the European Regional Development Fund (LIFEWATCH-2019-09-CSIC-13, POPE2014-2020). F.Z.T. is funded by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (PNPD/CAPES, Finance Code 001). J.L. is supported by the US National Science Foundation (1924111 and 2118329) and Michigan AgBioResearch.

Peer reviewed