This project is part of Ineris activities for improving the understanding of soil-plant pollutant transfers and associated mechanisms in a post-mining context.
The REECOL project gathers eleven partners representing research institutions and industrial partners such as coal mining companies from five European countries. The project objectives are to ensure long-term environmental sustainability of coal regions in transition.
The REECOL project activities are directed towards a significant improvement of post-mining ecological rehabilitation approaches which consider ecosystem degradation degree, future intended land uses, affordability of the solutions and impact of climate change. New solutions for post-mining land reclamation, revegetation and ecosystem rehabilitation will be developed and tested in selected case study areas in different coal regions in transition. In addition, the partnership will implement measures for efficient short and long terms monitoring of the rehabilitation processes with the use of various biological and geochemical indicators and remote sensing technology. The developed solutions will help establish appropriate ecosystems for the purpose of providing soil erosion control, water quality, wildlife habitat, and improved aesthetics of former mining sites to be reorganised towards other uses.
A new certification method to evaluate ecological rehabilitation of post-mining areas and identify industry best practice in this field will be presented by the project and validated by the industrial project partners. The project will deliver a novel and innovative research with direct and positive impacts on the coal regions in transition and support sustainable ecological rehabilitation options with long-term viability and good socio-ecological performance.
Ineris will test different combinations of plant species and soil amendments on its workshop site on several plots with the aim of limiting the transfer of pollutants and reducing exposure.
The project is started in July 2023, for three years.
