Soaring Extinction Threats to Endemic Plants in Brazilian Metal-Rich Regions

Excerpt

Environmental degradation due to mining activities is pervasive in most mineral-rich countries and has been given little attention by the authorities. Surface mining frequently targets very specific and evolutionary unique ecosystems, usually on mountaintops, and is characterized by high environmental impact and irreversibility (Jacobi and do Carmo 2008; Gibson et al. 2010). Recently, the negative impacts of coal surface mining were exposed in relation to ecosystem degradation and damages to human health, underlining the need to improve regulatory measures to mitigate them (Palmer et al. 2010). The loss of plant species associated with mineral-rich areas should be added to the list of ecologic and genetic damages recurrently derived from surface-mining activities. …