The strategies for overall reclamation of ecosystems impacted by mineral extraction projects should have the fundamental objective of constructing functional ecosystems that have at least equivalent values if not higher values relative to the values of ecosystems existing in the pre-mining environment.

Traditional approaches adopted for green belt development may not be the most appropriate solutions for achieving the desired success in restoration. It was earlier proposed that within the mine lease area the peripheral area of about 500 m width would be developed as a green belt. It is unlikely that a natural belt of vegetation of uniform width under compensatory afforestation can be realistically raised given the rugged nature of the landscape. A more realistic, pragmatic and flexible approach to define the width for compensatory afforestation will therefore have to be adopted.

There are considerable merits in retaining the belt of natural vegetation in the periphery of the mine lease area as opposed to developing a green belt of artificially planted species. It is therefore recommended that all around the mine lease area, natural vegetation, wherever it exists, should be retained as a component of effective green belt. Wherever terrain features, erodibility of soils and anthropogenic factors have created openings in the vegetation cover, efforts should be made to plug in the gaps by planting of locally occurring species.

For this, the project authorities should maintain a nursery stock of local species of this area. The project authority must aim to create a ‘green fence’ of minimum 100 m width around the mine lease area. This ‘green fence’ may have components of naturally occurring vegetation area and the newly planted stock of species. The work on developing the ‘green fence’ should be initiated before the progress of mining activity and the responsibility of protecting this area should be assigned to a professional ecologist engaged for at least the initial five years of the extractive phase of the mining. The cost to be incurred on engaging the professional ecologist and on raising of green belt should be appropriately budgeted in the Environmental Management Plan. Subsequently, the area should be transferred to the Himachal Pradesh Forest Department for protection and maintenance for which an appropriate amount of funds from budgetary allocations for implementation of Environmental Management Plan can be made available on a regular basis until the last active phase of mining. Following the mine closure, the area under green fence should be finally transferred to the HPFD.

Although the pollution related impacts on the surrounding environment due to the proposed cement plant are likely to be fairly reduced owing to the superior technology that is to be adopted in the cement production process, measures to monitor and ameliorate particularly the impacts of particulate pollution are needed.

The project authorities plan to develop a green belt of 10 m width all along the periphery of the plant for abatement of impacts of noise and dust likely to be induced by the proposed cement plant. It is recommended that selection of species and the design of the green belt should be based on scientific reasoning and proven properties of selected plant species to act as dust-trappers and noise-absorbers. For this purpose, expert advice from professional agencies/academic institutions must be sought. The maintenance of this green belt should be the prime responsibility of the project authorities for which expertise should be sought and budgetary provisions should be well visualised.

Experience from past mining projects suggests that restorative efforts for stabilisation of overburden also often fall short in restoring natural habitats of values equivalent to those under the pre-mining scenario. One of the prime reasons for limited success in restoration of mined areas is the failure in immediate transfer of top-soil onto a rehabilitation mine pit. In many cases, the top-soil is stored for later use resulting in reduction of the viability of soil seed reserves and consequent decline in levels of recruitment. The project authorities must ensure ecological restoration of mine pits and overburden sites. Adequate care will have to taken during extractive phase of the mining operation to protect top soil and its subsequent storage until it is transferred to the sites of overburden deposits. The success of the restoration efforts should be amply reflected in the trends of natural succession of plant and animal communities.

It is also critically important to ensure that the sites for overburden and mined-out ore deposits do not obstruct the natural drainages of the area particularly Gangli khad and its feeder streams. The natural drainage system will also have to be protected from any incoming effluents and acid mine drainage from the mine site.

Adopting protective strategies as opposed to replacement approaches are decidedly better options for mitigating impacts on natural ecosystems. The project proponents should therefore aim to retain naturally occurring vegetated areas within the mine lease area. For this, care should be taken during mining to avoid physical destruction of blocks of non-mineralised areas supporting vegetation. These blocks should not be utilised for waste disposal or for stocking of mined-out ore but should be fenced off during the active mining phase. Protecting these areas will also have long-term benefits of sustaining the resource needs of local communities.