The state of soils in Europe

This report delves into the intricate interplay between drivers, pressures and impacts on soil in the 32 Member States of the European Environment Agency (EEA), along with six cooperating countries from the West Balkans, Ukraine and UK, shedding light on the multifaceted challenges facing soil conservation efforts. Our analysis shows the complex interactions among various factors, both anthropogenic and natural, shaping soil degradation processes and their subsequent consequences. We highlight key findings, including the significant impacts of soil degradation on agriculture, ecosystem resilience, water quality, biodiversity, and human health, underscoring the urgent need for comprehensive soil management strategies. Moreover, our examination of citizen science initiatives underlines the importance of engaging the public in soil monitoring and conservation efforts. This work emphasises the policy relevance of promoting sustainable soil governance frameworks, supported by research, innovation, and robust soil monitoring schemes, to safeguard soil health and ensure the long-term resilience of ecosystems.JRC.D.3 - Land Resources and Supply Chain Assessment

L’analyse des risques des projets miniers à l’échelle territoriale : développement d’un outil d’aide à la décision testé sur le cas de l’exploitation aurifère en Guyane française

Mining can be the source and target of opportunities and threats of different natures exceeding the mine-site perimeter, affecting the socio-ecological system where mining is performed and leading to social tensions and entrepreneurial risks for mining companies. Hence, a mining project is a matter of land-planning rather than a simple industrial object. Nevertheless, current mandatory risk and impact assessment methods are often performed on one project at a time, sometimes neglecting the cumulative dimension of risks, the great variability of coexistent mining activities, and the socio-ecological vulnerability in which mining is performed.This thesis proposes an approach to develop and compare, based on the assessment of their risk, different potential scenarios for land-planning strategies in mining territories. This approach is operationalized through the development of a framework via its application on French Guiana gold mining sector. Here, gold mining involves a great variety of forms and techniques in a very sensitive socio-ecological context.Five territorial mining scenarios (TMS) involving different mine-types (e.g. legal artisanal, medium, large scale mining, illegal mining) are developed for the same amount of gold production. For each TMS, two types of risk scenarios are distinguished whether they concern the normal or accidental (e.g. dam failure) functioning of the mining project(s). Risks are assessed through a GIS-based approach that consider the socio-ecological vulnerability of the territory where the mines are located. The TMS are finally weighted, discussed and compared based on a global risk score.Despite the reliability of its results, this thesis provides an original and adaptable approach for the rapid comparison of mining strategies at the territory level, based on risk assessment. Further developments need to be achieved in order to optimize and improve the proposed approach and its application to the selected case-study (e.g. integration of the uncertainty analysis, better probabilistic models, data availability, GIS-automated tools).L'extraction minière peut être la source et la cible d’opportunités et pertes de différentes natures, qui généralement excèdent le périmètre du site minier et affectent le système socio-écologique dans lequel les projets miniers sont installés. Ces pertes peuvent aussi entrainer des oppositions et donc un véritable risque entrepreneurial pour les compagnies minières. Pour cette raison, un projet minier doit être considéré comme un enjeu d'aménagement territorial plutôt qu'un simple objet industriel isolé. Néanmoins, les méthodes d'étude d'impact ou d'analyse de risques appliquées au secteur minier sont souvent réalisées sur un projet à la fois, sans intégrer la dimension cumulative des risques liés à plusieurs projets coexistant sur le même territoire et en négligeant la vulnérabilité socio-écologique de ce dernier.Cette thèse propose une approche originale qui vise à développer différentes stratégies de développement minier dans une perspective d'aménagement territorial et à les comparer sur la base de leur niveau de risque. L’approche est rendue opérationnelle à travers un cadre méthodologique développé via une application à titre démonstratif sur le cas de l'exploitation aurifère en Guyane française.Cinq scénarios miniers territoriaux (SMT) sont développés en incluant des projets miniers de différentes types (e.g. mine artisanale, de taille moyenne, de grande taille, orpaillage illégal) pour la même quantité d'or produit. Pour chaque SMT, deux scénarios de risques sont considérés selon qu'ils concernent le fonctionnement normal ou accidentel (e.g. rupture de digue) des projets miniers. Ces risques sont évalués par une approche SIG en considérant l’estimation de la vulnerabilité socio-écologique du territoire. Les SMT sont enfin pondérés à partir des acteurs concernés (e.g. société civile, autorités locales, opérateurs miniers) et comparés sur la base d'un score représentant le niveau global de risque.En dehors de la structuration d’importantes quantités de données concernant la Guyane, cette thèse démontre la faisabilité et la rapide application de notre approche en permettant une première comparaison – basée sur l'analyse de risque – de stratégies minières dans une perspective d'aménagement territorial. S’agissant d’un premier développement, des améliorations devront cibler l’approche proposée ainsi que son application (e.g. analyse d’incertitude, meilleurs calculs probabilistes, amélioration des données, automatisation

Pourquoi utilise-t-on du cyanure pour extraire l’or ?

Article de vulgarisation scientifiqueThe Conversation Francehttps://theconversation.com/pourquoi-utilise-t-on-du-cyanure-pour-extraire-lor-122670Le projet Montagne d’Or en Guyane française a agité le débat public l’an dernier, avant d’être finalement suspendu : le gouvernement a depuis affirmé qu’il serait abandonné. Mi-octobre, un nouvel avis favorable émis par la Direction de l’environnement, de l’aménagement et du logement a réveillé la polémique, mais la ministre de la transition écologique Élisabeth Borne a réaffirmé l’opposition du gouvernement.Fortement contesté, ce projet minier aurifère a remis l’accent sur les conditions dans lesquelles les matières premières sont extraites, en France et dans le monde. Au cours des discussions, l’utilisation du cyanure pour prélever l’or a tout particulièrement attiré l’attention du grand public. Les activités industrielles et agricoles emploient couramment des produits dangereux pour la santé et l’environnement. Dans le secteur minier, des substances explosives peuvent servir à l’excavation et au transport d’engins qui demandent une grande quantité de carburant à stocker sur place.Le traitement du minerai nécessite souvent l’utilisation de produits chimiques très variés, dont le but est de séparer les minéraux utiles des roches sans valeur économique associée (la « gangue »). Parmi les minerais les plus demandés sur le marché, le cuivre peut nécessiter... à suivre sur https://theconversation.com/pourquoi-utilise-t-on-du-cyanure-pour-extraire-lor-12267

Dynamic, Multi-Perspective and Multi-Scale Risk Assessment of Mining Projects under Tropical Climate, in both their Geoscientific and Social Dimension

International audienceMining activities in tropical regions might be the source and the target of multiple risks. The peculiar climatic conditions are the main reasons of their complexity and their interactions with the human and natural environment need to be considered carefully. Risk factors vary according to internal and external conditions of mining projects and can have different nature (geotechnical, environmental, socioeconomic , etc.). Since they are interdependent, they can't be treated separately. Despite the availability of many tools for risk assessment, none of them is specific enough to be applied to mining projects. Thus, the development of an adapted methodology is a priority for land planning and major decision-making processes. The intent of this paper is to develop a methodology for a dynamic, multi-perspective, and multi-scale risk assessment of mining projects under tropical climate. French Guyana has been chosen as the study area, because of the variety of mining exploitations and the multiple challenges at stake. In a first step, a database of common risk factors of mining projects is developed thanks to interviews, literature reviews and expert feedbacks. The identified risk events are then categorized based on their nature and their corresponding project phases. Regarding the specificities of our case study, geotechnical, environmental and social risks have been selected for a detailed assessment based on the available data and those obtained through satellite images, remote-sensing and other techniques. The development of such a methodology consent to analyze the interaction between the risk events and their spatio-temporal variability in the studied context. Thence, the adaptability of this tool assures an efficient support to decision-making processes. In a further step, the obtained results will be mapped through GIS tools and coupled with land-use and demographic data so to assess risk levels by considering the potential consequences and vulnerability of the elements at risk

Territorial Mining Scenarios for Sustainable Land-Planning: A Risk-Based Comparison on the Example of Gold Mining in French Guiana

International audienceMining can be the source and target of opportunities and threats of different natures exceeding the mine site perimeter, affecting the socio-ecological system and leading to social conflicts and entrepreneurial risks for mining companies. Hence, a mining project is a matter of land planning rather than a simple industrial object. Nevertheless, current mandatory risk and impact assessment methods are often performed on one project at a time, neglecting the coexistence of different mining activities and the socio-ecological vulnerability of the territory where mining takes place. This paper proposes an original risk-based approach to develop and compare different territorial mining scenarios (TMSs) to support land-planning strategies in mining territories, tested on the French Guiana gold mining sector. Five TMSs combining different mine types (e.g., legal artisanal, medium, large-scale mining, illegal mining) were developed for the same total amount of gold production at the watershed level. For each TMS, both accidental and ordinary risk scenarios were assessed through a GIS-based approach considering watershed socio-ecological vulnerability. Risks were finally weighted according to different stakeholders’ perception, and the TMSs were compared based on their global risk scores. Despite the multiple challenges highlighted, this paper highlights the feasibility of a methodological framework to support mining planning at the territory level

Development and First Application of an Integrated Methodology for Risk Assessment of Mining Projects in French Guiana at the Territory Scale

International audienc

Gold mining in French Guiana: A multi-criteria classification of mining projects for risk assessment at the territorial scale

International audienceMining is the source and target of various risks, that generally exceed the mine-site perimeter, and have impacts at larger scales. Consequently, mining risk analysis should be informed both by the structured characterization of mining projects and by a holistic understanding of the system where mining projects are located and interact. This is rarely the case in practice. In French Guiana (FG) gold exploitation plays a critical role within territory dynamics, and this activity takes a great variety of forms. However, no structured description of mining projects is available in scientific literature regarding FG. This paper proposes a multi-criteria classification of gold mining projects in FG with the objective to develop standardized gold mining project types for risk assessment at the territory level. First, the different types of mining projects are briefly presented and their specifities described. Then, a classification is proposed, based on the data obtained from different sources and validated by local experts. Finally, for each project type, an overview of the main potential impacts at the territory level is presented. This is a first step for the development of a systematic methodology for mining risk assessment in FG. It may be extended to other countries and commodities