Uncharted risk measures for the management of sustainable mining

Exchange of knowledge and the consolidation of culture for contamination management: Introduction to the RemTech Europe 2022 Special Series

The urgency of protecting ecosystems and their recovery from contamination has been highlighted in several recent European strategies because Europe's biodiversity and landscapes are declining rapidly due to different human pressures. Despite the existence of EU and national laws addressing environmental contamination, practical procedures are often missing. For example, competent authorities must deal promptly and effectively with environmental accidents, noncompliance, and criminal offenses but relevant tools that facilitate these processes are often lacking. For example, thorough planning is crucial for effective investigation and assessment to improve environmental damage assessments in line with the European Environmental Liability Directive (ELD, 2004/35/EC). With regard to soils, a specific European legislation for their protection, the European Soil Monitoring Law, is currently being developed. However, it is crucial that this law bridges the gaps between existing chemical regulations and that it aligns with current European strategies for environmental protection and sustainability. Continuous feedback of soil monitoring results to regulatory frameworks will be essential. This feedback loop ensures that chemical regulations are relevant and effective in protecting soil health. In this context, development and sharing of effective and practical procedures for recovering ecosystems from contamination are crucial. This was the case at the RemTech Europe meeting, which was held online and onsite in Ferrara, Italy, in September 2022. The discussion covered all aspects of environmental contaminants. It ranged from the basic understanding of these contaminants to the various types that pose a threat to organisms, studies of their environmental fate, detection methods, and sustainable practices for contaminant management. The special series dedicated to RemTech Europe 2022 is particularly relevant to these purposes and resulted in six articles that were selected from oral presentations. The articles emphasize the need for integrated approaches to risk management and remediation to address the problems of soil, sediment, and groundwater contamination. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2024;00:1-5. © 2024 The Author(s). Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

International approaches to contamination management: Introduction to the RemTech Europe 2021 Special Series

Soil is a nonrenewable resource, and groundwater is a critical source of drinking water. Effective soil and water protection, assessment and, if affected, recovery from contamination are priorities around the world; eco-friendly interventions in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are favored objectives. These issues were discussed during the sixth RemTech Europe conference (https://www.remtechexpo.com/it/remtech-europe/remtech-europe), which focused on sustainable technologies for land and water remediation; environmental protection; and the rehabilitation, regeneration, and sustainable development of contaminated sites, encouraging diverse stakeholders to share cutting-edge technologies, case studies, and innovation. Effective, practical, and sustainable management of remediation is only possible if the projects are completed, which is supported when the participants start the remediation planning with this end in mind. Several strategies to support and achieve the finalization of sustainable remediation processes were discussed at the conference. Addressing these gaps were among the goals of the papers included in this special series, which were selected from the RemTech EU conference presentations. The papers include risk management plan case studies, bioremediation tools, and preventive measures for minimizing disaster impacts. Moreover, the use of common and shared international best practices for effective and sustainable contaminated site management, with policy alignment among the remediation stakeholders in different countries, was also reported. Finally, many regulatory gaps, for example, the lack of practical end-of-waste criteria for contaminated soils, were also discussed. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2023;00:1-3. © 2023 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).