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Ecological footprint: an indicator of environmental sustainability of a surface coal mine

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Abstract

Ecological footprint of mining can be used as an indicator to monitor and regulate mining operations and ensure long-term environmental sustainability. It can be viewed as a mining footprint, which is surrogate of the environmental impacts of mining. In this paper, a methodological framework is developed to demonstrate how ecological footprint can be used as an indicator of environmental degradation. Nine air quality and 26 soil quality samples are collected from the adjoining area of a mechanized coal mine, located in Raniganj coal mining belt of Burdwan district, West Bengal. Geographical information system is used for data interpolation and preparation of air and soil quality maps. The weights of different air and soil quality parameters are calculated by running principal component analysis. These derived weights are used for preparation of final composite air and soil quality maps. The composite maps show the mining footprints, expressed as land equivalent, around the active mine sites. The impact zones reveal the extent of degradation of the soil and air qualities in the areas near a mine. It is found that the impact zones, with respect to air and soil qualities, extend over areas which are 7.7 and 7.8 times the actual mining areas, that is, the area covered under mining operations, respectively. The results show the extent of degradation of air and soil qualities of the area. At different stages of mining, these footprints can be used as indicators to reveal the areas where soil and air qualities are adversely impacted.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge with thanks the financial support provided by Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India, through a research project on sustainability of mining. An environmental database is prepared using the project fund. This database is used in preparation of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining Engineering, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, Howrah, India

    Suranjan Sinha & Shatrajit Goswami

  2. Department of Environment Management, Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, Kolkata, India

    Surajit Chakraborty

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  1. Suranjan Sinha
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  2. Surajit Chakraborty
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  3. Shatrajit Goswami
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Correspondence to Suranjan Sinha.

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Sinha, S., Chakraborty, S. & Goswami, S. Ecological footprint: an indicator of environmental sustainability of a surface coal mine. Environ Dev Sustain 19, 807–824 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-016-9766-y

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