The mining necessary for producing renewable energy could exacerbate threats to biodiversity, researchers have found. The production of renewable energy requires metals and other materials which are mined. Researchers mapped the areas around more than 60,000 mining properties to assess whether they overlapped with biodiversity conservation sites. The scientists found mining potentially influences 50m sq km of the Earth’s land surface, and that 82% of mining areas produce materials used in renewable energy production.
Mining areas that produce these materials and overlap with protected areas and remaining wilderness also contain a greater density of mines compared with the overlapping mining areas that target other materials. The report says strategic planning is required to ensure that mining threats to biodiversity caused by renewable energy production do not “surpass the threats averted by climate change mitigation and any effort to slow fossil fuel extraction and use”.
Dr Hannah Peck, the deputy director of the NGO Cool Earth, said: “While we fully support the move away from fossil fuel production as an essential part of the fight against climate change, alternative energy production must not happen at the expense of biodiversity, rainforest and the livelihoods of indigenous peoples. Species richness will be lost, and irrevocable damage will be done to local culture, health and traditions. “Indigenous people have the most to lose from mining companies accessing rainforest, with potentially catastrophic knock-on effects. Once roads are opened, further extractive industries can follow suit, including loggers, who can then gain deeper access to the forest through these newly established roads.”
Source: Guardian
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