Nature Conservation and Rehabilitation of Opencast Lignite Mines
At first glance, post-mining landscapes are seen as areas in which mining has destroyed vegetation and living soil layers. This is why they are generally believed to be of little value. But due to the many characteristic physiotypes and features of post-mining landscapes, habitats have evolved that are largely free from fragmentation and destruction. Looked at as a whole, their nature conservation potential is both valuable and significant because the conditions found in post-mining landscapes rarely occur in cultural landscapes untouched by mining. Nature conservationists are thus intent on saving as much as possible of the structures that have evolved in these areas. The knowledge that such structures and their potential receive too little consideration in current rehabilitation activities led BfN to commission two separate research and development projects.
The results of both projects have been published in "Naturschutz und Braunkohlesanierung" (Nature Conservation and Rehabilitation of Opencast Lignite Mines)1).
The aim of the publication is to provide an overview of the importance of post-mining landscapes in nature conservation and landscape management, and to offer recommendations on how nature conservation needs can be taken into account in rehabilitation activities. A cost-comparison of rehabilitation models involving agriculture, forestry and nature conservation and their expected impact on the region’s economy showed that the nature conservation model was significantly less expensive and faired no worse as regards its impact on the region. Coupled with a legal assessment of the relationship between nature conservation and rehabilitation of former lignite mining sites, the balance swings in favour of nature conservation.
1) ABRESCH, J. P., GASSNER, E. & KORFF, J. (2000): Naturschutz und Braunkohlesanierung, Schriftenreihe für Angewandte Landschaftsökologie 27, ISBN 3-7843-3702-3
