Mining Site Reclamation Planning Based on Land Suitability Analysis and Ecosystem Services Evaluation: A Case Study in Liaoning Province, China

Jiali Wang, Fuqiang Zhao, Jian Yang and Xiaoshu Li
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Jiali Wang: Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
Fuqiang Zhao: Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
Jian Yang: Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
Xiaoshu Li: Department of Forestry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546, USA

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: Restoration of the degraded ecosystem is a global priority for achieving sustainable development. Although increasing ecosystem service is an important goal of ecological restoration, it is rarely used to inform mine reclamation. This study proposed a reclamation strategy that incorporated land suitability analysis and ecosystem service evaluation for a mining site in Liaoning Province, China. We assessed the land suitability for three reclamation alternatives and identified suitable land uses for each location by comparing their suitability levels. For areas that were suitable for multiple land uses with the same suitability level, the future land uses cannot be identified by land suitability analysis alone, and we employed ecosystem services evaluation to determine the optimal reclamation strategy. The results showed that forest could be restored throughout the entire mining site, agricultural land were most suitable in the western and southern parts, and developed land were in northern parts that were closer to roads and city centers. Our study showed that a large mining site can be reclaimed to different land uses and provided a practical framework for integrating ecosystem services into mine reclamation.

Keywords: mining site reclamation planning; land suitability analysis; ecosystem service; ecosystem service provision unit; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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