Challenge to restore land degraded by coal mining in India, finds study
Reduced forest cover, shrunk water bodies and increased vulnerability to climate change aberrations were among some of long-term effects.
Join our WhatsApp Community to receive travel deals, free stays, and special offers!
- Join Now -
Join our WhatsApp Community to receive travel deals, free stays, and special offers!
- Join Now -
A new study capturing how coal mining transforms land use over time demonstrates the challenges in restoring this land upon mine closure – an important aspect of a just transition as India plans to move away from coal.
Three functional coal mines in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh degraded 35% of the area’s native land cover, the study, conducted by researchers from various institutes, found. The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Environmental Science in July.
Coal production and mining is expected to grow till 2040, before being phased down in order to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070. The damaging environmental impacts of coal mining are well known, but repurposing and restoring this land is emerging as the next frontier for the energy transition.
According to the International Forum for Environment, Sustainability & Technology, iFOREST, a think tank, 440,000 hectares of land are currently used for mining and thermal power production in India, most of it concentrated in the eastern coal belt of the country. Over the last 10 years, coal public sector undertakings have increased their green cover by only 18,849 hectares, a fraction of the land that mines currently occupy.
Coal mining regulations have made it easier for mines to expand their operations with fewer compliances. In 2021, the Ministry of...
