CoChat
Sign Up
PreprintCited by 15Environmental Conservation and ManagementConservation, Biodiversity, and Resource ManagementMining and Resource Management

The DOI matches its Crossref record; its reference list is not available.

Mining threats in high-level biodiversity conservation policies

Open access
Torres, Aurora, zu Ermgassen, Sophus O.S.E., Navarro, Laetitia M., Ferri-Yanez, Francisco, Teixeira, Fernanda Z., Wittkopp, Constanze, Rosa, Isabel M.D., Liu, Jianguo·2023·Conservation Biology
DOI 10.1101/2023.07.30.550308

Preprint — published as 10.1111/cobi.14261 · Paper page

Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Amid a global infrastructure boom, there is increasing recognition of the ecological impacts of the extraction and consumption of construction minerals, mainly as concrete. Recent research highlights the significant and expanding threat these minerals pose to global biodiversity. To what extent is this pressure acknowledged in biodiversity conservation policy? We investigate how high-level national and international biodiversity conservation policies, including the 2011-2020 and post-2020 biodiversity strategies, the national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and the assessments of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, address mining threats with a special focus on construction minerals. We find that mining appears rarely in national targets, but more frequently in national strategies with greater coverage of aggregates mining than limestone mining, yet it is dealt with superficially in most countries. We then outline an 8-point strategy to reduce the biodiversity impacts of construction minerals, which comprises actions such as targeting, reporting, and monitoring systems, the evidence-base around mining impacts on biodiversity, and the behavior of financial agents and businesses. Implementing these measures can pave the way for a more sustainable approach to construction mineral use and safeguard biodiversity.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1101/2023.07.30.550308

Cites

Statistics

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

No citation lists for this paper

No citation lists for this paper yet — checked again daily.

References 88 · Cited by 15

Research works printed but not linked: 74

  1. 2004, Model selection and multi-model inference, 63, 10
  2. 2015, Linking rapid erosion of the Mekong River delta to human activities, Scientific Reports, 5, 1
  3. 10.1111/nph.12522 · DOI
  4. 10.1073/pnas.1812505115 · DOI
  5. 2021, Sand, gravel, and UN Sustainable Development Goals: Conflicts, synergies, and pathways forward, One Earth, 4, 1095, 10.1016/j.oneear.2021.07.008 · DOI
  6. 2021, Understanding and responding to the environmental human rights defenders crisis: The case for conservation action, Conservation Letters, 14, e12777, 10.1111/conl.12777 · DOI
  7. Bisht A . 2021. Conceptualizing sand extractivism: Deconstructing an emerging resource frontier. The Extractive Industries and Society:100904. · DOI
  8. 2022, Sand futures: Post-growth alternatives for mineral aggregate consumption and distribution in the global south, Ecological Economics, 191, 107233, 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107233 · DOI
  9. 2016, Overcoming data deficiency in reptiles, Biological Conservation, 204, 16, 10.1016/j.biocon.2016.05.018 · DOI
  10. 2021, Understanding the impacts of mining on ecosystem services through a systematic review, The Extractive Industries and Society, 8, 457, 10.1016/j.exis.2020.12.005 · DOI
  11. 2015, Possible Target Corridor for Sustainable Use of Global Material Resources, Resources, 4, 25, 10.3390/resources4010025 · DOI
  12. 2022, Analysis: the biodiversity footprint of the University of Oxford, Nature, 604, 420, 10.1038/d41586-022-01034-1 · DOI
  13. 2020, Poor availability of context-specific evidence hampers decision-making in conservation, Biological Conservation, 248, 108666, 10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108666 · DOI
  14. 10.1641/0006-3568(2006)56[733:LKOSAI]2.0.CO;2 · DOI
  15. Cooke SJ et al. In Press. Managing exploitation of freshwater species and aggregates to protect and restore freshwater biodiversity. Environmental Reviews.
  16. 2018, Towards demand-side solutions for mitigating climate change, Nature Climate Change, 8, 260, 10.1038/s41558-018-0121-1 · DOI
  17. 2011, Environmental impact of quarries on natural resources in Lebanon, Land Degradation & Development, 22, 345, 10.1002/ldr.1011 · DOI
  18. 2019, Technical quality of fauna monitoring programs in the environmental impact assessments of large mining projects in southeastern Brazil, Science of The Total Environment, 650, 216, 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.425 · DOI
  19. 10.1126/science.aax3100 · DOI · Paper page
  20. 10.1525/bio.2011.61.12.4 · DOI
  21. 10.1038/s41586-020-3010-5 · DOI
  22. European Bank of Reconstruction and Development. 2021. EBRD Annual Review 2020. European Bank of Reconstruction and Development. Available from //www.ebrd.com/news/publications/annual-report/annual-review-2020.html (accessed August 20, 2021).
  23. 2020, Reclaiming the neglected minerals of development, The Extractive Industries and Society, 7, 453, 10.1016/j.exis.2020.02.002 · DOI
  24. 2018, Defending the Defenders: Environmental Protectors, Climate Change and Human Rights, Ethics and the Environment, 23, 83, 10.2979/ethicsenviro.23.2.05 · DOI
  25. 2019, Contributions of sociometabolic research to sustainability science, Nature Sustainability, 2, 173, 10.1038/s41893-019-0225-2 · DOI
  26. 2021, A strategy for the next decade to address data deficiency in neglected biodiversity, Conservation Biology, 35, 502, 10.1111/cobi.13589 · DOI
  27. 2022, International treaties have mostly failed to produce their intended effects, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119, e2122854119, 10.1073/pnas.2122854119 · DOI
  28. 2017, Understanding the drivers of Southeast Asian biodiversity loss, Ecosphere, 8, e01624, 10.1002/ecs2.1624 · DOI
  29. 2019, Understanding and minimizing environmental impacts of the Belt and Road Initiative, Conservation Biology, 33, 883, 10.1111/cobi.13317 · DOI
  30. 2021, Evidence shortfalls in the recommendations and guidance underpinning ecological mitigation for infrastructure developments, Ecological Solutions and Evidence, 2, e12089, 10.1002/2688-8319.12089 · DOI
  31. Inter-American Development Bank. 2021. Inter-American Development Bank Annual Report 2020: the Year in Review. Inter-American Development Bank. Available from https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Inter-American-Development-Bank-Annual-Report-2020-The-Year-in-Review.pdf (accessed August 20, 2021).
  32. 10.1111/gcb.14518 · DOI · Paper page
  33. 2012, Improving access to biodiversity data for, and from, EIAs – a data publishing framework built to global standards, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 30, 148, 10.1080/14615517.2012.705068 · DOI
  34. 2020, Impacts of riverine sand mining on freshwater ecosystems: A review of the scientific evidence and guidance for future research, River Research and Applications, 36, 362, 10.1002/rra.3586 · DOI
  35. 2019, Environmental change, urbanisation, and socio-ecological resilience in the Pacific: Community narratives from Port Vila, Vanuatu. Ecosystem Services, 39, 100973, 10.1016/j.ecoser.2019.100973 · DOI
  36. 2017, Trait-based prediction of extinction risk of small-bodied freshwater fishes, Conservation Biology, 31, 581, 10.1111/cobi.12882 · DOI
  37. 10.1073/pnas.1613773114 · DOI · Paper page
  38. 2009, Adaptive monitoring: a new paradigm for long-term research and monitoring, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 24, 482, 10.1016/j.tree.2009.03.005 · DOI
  39. Liu J. 2017. Integration across a metacoupled world. Ecology and Society 22. Available from https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss4/art29/ (accessed March 22, 2018). · DOI
  40. 2011, The pitfall-trap of species conservation priority setting, Biodiversity and Conservation, 20, 663, 10.1007/s10531-010-9973-z · DOI
  41. 2020, Ecological methods and indicators for recovering and monitoring ecosystems after mining: A global literature review, Ecological Engineering, 145, 105707, 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2019.105707 · DOI
  42. 2020, The political economy of car dependence: A systems of provision approach, Energy Research & Social Science, 66, 101486, 10.1016/j.erss.2020.101486 · DOI
  43. 2013, Carbon Emissions of Infrastructure Development, Environmental Science & Technology, 47, 11739, 10.1021/es402618m · DOI
  44. OECD. 2018. Global Material Resources Outlook to 2060: Economic Drivers and Environmental Consequences. OECD Publishing, Paris. Available from https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/content/publication/9789264307452-en.
  45. 2014, Sand, rarer than one thinks, Environmental Development, 11, 208, 10.1016/j.envdev.2014.04.001 · DOI
  46. 2021, Biodiversity post-2020: Closing the gap between global targets and national-level implementation, Conservation Letters, n/a, e12848
  47. 10.1093/icesjms/fsr039 · DOI
  48. Radzevičius R , Velegrakis AF , Bonne WMI , Kortekaas S , Garel E , Blažauskas N , Asariotis R . 2010. Marine Aggregate Extraction Regulation in EU Member States. Journal of Coastal Research:15–37.
  49. 2014, On the little-known hyporheic biodiversity of India, with annotated checklist of copepods and bathynellaceans (Crustacea) and a note on the disastrous implications of indiscriminate sand mining, Journal of Threatened Taxa, 6, 5315, 10.11609/JoTT.o3734.5315-26 · DOI
  50. 2019, Improving collaboration in the implementation of global biodiversity conventions, Conservation Biology, 33, 821, 10.1111/cobi.13252 · DOI
  51. 2016, Melding of research and practice to improve restoration of Banksia woodlands after sand extraction, Perth, Western Australia. Ecological Management & Restoration, 17, 112, 10.1111/emr.12214 · DOI
  52. 2020, Enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem services in quarry restoration – challenges, strategies, and practice, Restoration Ecology, 28, 655, 10.1111/rec.13160 · DOI
  53. 2020, Vulnerable species and ecosystems are falling through the cracks of environmental impact assessments, Conservation Letters, 13, e12694, 10.1111/conl.12694 · DOI
  54. 2013, The unappreciated, fundamentally analytical nature of taxonomy and the implications for the inventory of biodiversity, Biodiversity and Conservation, 22, 1095, 10.1007/s10531-013-0472-x · DOI
  55. 10.1098/rspb.2018.1926 · DOI
  56. 2022, Conservation implications and opportunities of mining activities for terrestrial mammal habitat, Conservation Science and Practice, 4, e12806, 10.1111/csp2.12806 · DOI
  57. 2018, The disparity between species description and conservation assessment: A case study in taxa with high rates of species discovery, Biological Conservation, 220, 209, 10.1016/j.biocon.2018.01.022 · DOI
  58. 2019, Infrastructure for sustainable development, Nature Sustainability, 2, 324, 10.1038/s41893-019-0256-8 · DOI
  59. 2010, Evaluating Restoration Success of Frequently Implemented Compensation Measures: Results and Demands for Control Procedures, Restoration Ecology, 18, 467
  60. 10.1126/science.aao0503 · DOI · Paper page
  61. 2021, Sustainability of the global sand system in the Anthropocene, One Earth, 4, 639, 10.1016/j.oneear.2021.04.011 · DOI
  62. Torres A , zu Ermgassen SOSE , Ferri-Yanez F , Navarro L , Rosa I , Teixeira FZ , Wittkopp C , Liu J. 2022, Unearthing the global impact of mining of construction minerals on biodiversity. Pre-print. · DOI
  63. UNEP. 1990. Environmental Guidelines for Sand and Gravel Extraction Projects. Pages 12–14. 20, Environmental Management Guidelines. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya. Available from https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/29053/EMG20.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
  64. 2019, Mainstreaming biodiversity: A review of national strategies, Biological Conservation, 235, 157, 10.1016/j.biocon.2019.04.016 · DOI
  65. 2009, Applying ecology for cave management in China and neighbouring countries, Journal of Applied Ecology, 46, 520, 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2009.01630.x · DOI
  66. 2021, Prospects for a saturation of humanity’s resource use? An analysis of material stocks and flows in nine world regions from 1900 to 2035, Global Environmental Change, 71, 102410, 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102410 · DOI
  67. 2016, The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship, Scientific Data, 3, 160018, 10.1038/sdata.2016.18 · DOI · Paper page
  68. 2022, International principles and standards for the ecological restoration and recovery of mine sites, Restoration Ecology, 30, e13771, 10.1111/rec.13771 · DOI
  69. 10.1007/s13280-021-01557-3 · DOI
  70. 2022, Increasing material efficiencies of buildings to address the global sand crisis, Nature Sustainability, 5, 389, 10.1038/s41893-022-00857-0 · DOI
  71. 2019, The ecological outcomes of biodiversity offsets under “no net loss” policies: A global review, Conservation Letters, 12, e12664, 10.1111/conl.12664 · DOI
  72. zu Ermgassen SOSE , Drewniok MP , Bull JW , Corlet Walker CM , Mancini M , Ryan-Collins J , Cabrera Serrenho A. 2022a, A home for all within planetary boundaries: Pathways for meeting England’s housing needs without transgressing national climate and biodiversity goals. Ecological Economics:107562, · DOI
  73. 2022, Are corporate biodiversity commitments consistent with delivering ‘nature-positive’ outcomes? A review of ‘nature-positive’ definitions, company progress and challenges, Journal of Cleaner Production, 379, 134798, 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134798 · DOI
  74. 2019, The Role of “No Net Loss” Policies in Conserving Biodiversity Threatened by the Global Infrastructure Boom, One Earth, 1, 305, 10.1016/j.oneear.2019.10.019 · DOI

Metadata

Authors
Torres, A., zu Ermgassen, S. O. S. E., Navarro, L. M., Ferri-Yanez, F., Teixeira, F. Z., Wittkopp, C., Rosa, I. M. D., & Liu, J.
Affiliations
  • University of Alicante (ES)
  • University of Kent (GB)
  • Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES)
  • Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (BR)
  • German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE)
  • Bangor University (GB)
  • Michigan State University (US)
Corresponding author
Torres, Aurora
ORCID
Venue
Conservation Biology
Publisher
openRxiv
Published
2023-07-30
Volume
38
Issue
4
Pages
e14261-e14261
ISSN
0888-8892 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1101/2023.07.30.550308
OpenAlex
W4393947562
Cited by
15
References
88
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 1
FWCI
0.83
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
  • Conservation Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • Kent Academic Repository (University of Kent) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • RUA, Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Alicante (Universidad de Alicante) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Digitalen Hochschulbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt (Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (2118329, 1924111)
  • European Commission (846474, HORIZON2020, 101036849)
  • Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Finance Code 001)., (Code 001))
  • Generalitat Valenciana
  • Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (LIFEWATCH2019-09-CSIC-13)
  • LifeWatch – Niclas Öberg Foundation
  • Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (101036849)
  • Natural Environment Research Council (NE/L002582/1, NE/L002582)
  • European Regional Development Fund (LIFEWATCH-2019-09-CSIC-13)
  • Conselleria de Innovación, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital, Generalitat Valenciana (CIDEIG/2022/44)
  • FP7 Science in Society
  • HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (101106872, 846474)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Environmental Conservation and Management
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Mining and Resource Management
Keywords
biodiversity policy, construction minerals, limestone mining, mining impacts on biodiversity, national biodiversity strategy, IPBES assessment, biodiversity mainstreaming, infrastructure development, concrete, extractive industries
MeSH terms
Conservation of Natural Resources, Mining, Biodiversity, Environmental Policy

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Mining threats in high-level biodiversity conservation policies. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1101/2023.07.30.550308
The paper
Torres, A., zu Ermgassen, S. O. S. E., Navarro, L. M., Ferri-Yanez, F., Teixeira, F. Z., Wittkopp, C., Rosa, I. M. D., & Liu, J. (2023). Mining threats in high-level biodiversity conservation policies. Conservation Biology. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.30.550308