There is no doubt that mines and quarries destroy the natural environment on earth and can generate air and water pollution problems. However, part of our activity depends on them to obtain materials of all kinds (sand, stone, minerals, etc.). Is there room for improvement in these activities? A recent study with the participation of CREAF, now summarized in a policy brief published by the Society for Ecological Restoration Europe (SERE) , concludes that mines and quarries can become islands of biodiversity if existing scientific knowledge is applied. It also emphasizes that the recovery of these spaces must be included as a priority within national restoration plans; plans that are currently being drafted and that are mandatory with the new European Restoration Law.
Before making this change of pace, some barriers must be overcome. We have detected five, but I would highlight two key ones. The first is to align the current legal frameworks that affect these farms, which are now too unambitious, with European restoration objectives. The second is to improve incentives for the actors involved to commit and provide the sector with more tools.
Vicenç Carabassa, CREAF researcher and one of the authors of the study
The published article also recommends five solutions, such as monitoring operations based on scientific criteria, making available practical restoration guides adapted to each context, creating a network of successfully restored spaces that are a source of inspiration, and involving the administrations, sector and agents of the territory in the entire process.
To reach these conclusions, the study has analyzed more than 500 farms in ten European countries and the results show that natural regeneration can be very effective, but that success depends on a good understanding of the specific conditions of each site and on maintaining long-term monitoring.
Experimental plots with treatments of different organic compounds in an area undergoing restoration in La Falconera, El Garraf. Image: Galdric Mossoll
From destruction to natural refuge
The policy brief outlines the potential of quarries and mining sites to transform from degraded, lifeless spaces into havens or islands of biodiversity. With good science-led planning, and often through natural regeneration, these landscapes can be reborn as mosaics of rich and diverse habitats, including grasslands, scrubland, young woodland and wetlands . For example, former sandbanks can spontaneously evolve into dunes and vegetated slopes that create a combination of open spaces that are valuable to wildlife. In other cases, nutrient-poor ponds that form after extraction become key breeding grounds for declining amphibians, while vertical walls of sand or rock provide nesting sites for birds such as the Bonelli's eagle.
Furthermore, if the farms are close to intensive and very homogeneous agricultural landscapes, once recovered they can act as refuges for insects, butterflies and plants, thanks to their heterogeneity and the fact that they often maintain conditions that are no longer found in other places. Over time, the combination of areas in different stages of succession generates a great diversity of interconnected habitats capable of reinforcing the green infrastructure and contributing in a key way to the recovery of biodiversity. “In this sense, it is key to understand that they do not replace well-preserved ecosystems, but rather complement them, helping to expand and strengthen the network of natural spaces in a context of growing pressure on the territory”, concludes Carabassa.
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La Falconera, an example of recent success
The CREAF Protecsols research group has been working for years to improve these extractive practices and make them more respectful, looking at how to restore the habitats that impact them or carrying out specific actions to conserve species, among others. Part of its success is framed in the restoration of La Falconera, a limestone quarry, exploited by the company MOLINS SA, in which several research projects have been carried out to improve its restoration. Specifically, open and degraded areas have been covered with artificial soils or custom-made technosols, with mixtures of soil, straw and other organic amendments such as compost. On this new land, specific plants have been grown that have given rise to habitats of priority interest, such as the Mediterranean maquis (with shrubs and trees accustomed to drought) or the dry calcicola meadows, a habitat especially interesting for the Bonelli's eagle, a protected species that the Barcelona Provincial Council wants to maintain in the Garraf Park with this type of action .
Visual itinerary on what to consider when applying organic amendments in soil rehabilitation and restoration. Design: José Luis Ordóñez
In fact, Catalonia is a pioneer in the application of these principles, since the monitoring of restoration is already carried out taking into account scientific criteria and guides and manuals, such as the Restocat Manual for the restoration of extractive activities or the Protocol for monitoring restoration measures with drones . Likewise, in Catalonia there are many examples of successful restoration and networking between companies, administrations and research centers. “In this sense, we could say that Catalonia is a living lab in mining restoration at a European level”, concludes Carabassa.
Scientific article: Ballesteros, M., Řehounková, K., Decleer, K. et al. Maximizing biodiversity potential in Europe's mines and quarries: A key role for EU Nature Restoration Regulation targets. Ambio 55, 280–296 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-025-02235-4
