Ecological Impacts of Stone Mining: Assessment and Restoration of Soil, Water, Air and Flora

This edited book covers the impact of stone mining activities on soil, water, air, agriculture, vegetation, and policy aspects. It provides information on rehabilitation and restoration measures for stone mine spoil areas and other associated adverse impacts on human health caused by mining activities. Additionally, the book covers information related to the impact of stone mining on the socio-economic conditions of mining area inhabitants and appropriate government policies and support to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals-15.3 (SDG-15.3) for degraded stone mine spoil sites toward Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN).

The dumping of stone mine waste has many negative implications for the environment, soil, and natural resources. Although stone mining is the main source of livelihood for millions of people around the world and plays a crucial role in the economic development of many countries, it was estimated that nearly 4 million people die every year, especially in developing countries, due to environmental pollution from quarrying, sandblasting, and the emission of toxic gases. Mining leads to land degradation by the stacking of mine waste, loss of fertile topsoil and vegetation covers, abstraction and deterioration of the natural drainage system, deforestation, groundwater depletion, loss of plant and aquatic biodiversity, and public health issues.

The book covers information about all aspects of dimensional stone mining activity and is a useful read for researchers, planners, capacity builders, scientists, and policymakers for achieving SDG 15.3. It would also be helpful for undergraduate and graduate students of agriculture, forestry, ecology, soil science, and environmental science disciplines.

Dr Gulshan Kumar Sharma, Ph.D., did his M.Sc. and Ph. D. from division of Environmental Sciences, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa Campus, New Delhi and currently posted as scientist at ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water, Conservation, Research Centre, Kota, Rajasthan. Dr Sharma has more than 9 years’ experience on research work related to algae mediated wastewater treatment, Groundwater Quality Assessment, Air Pollution Monitoring, Impact Assessment of Stone Mining, Rehabilitation of Degraded Mining Areas, Land Resource Inventory etc. Dr Sharma received various prestigious fellowships and awards in his career like Pradeep Memorial Award for best M.Sc. Student, qualified ICAR and UGC National Eligibility Test, DST-INSPIRE for Ph.D., NESA Green Technology Innovative Award 2022, NESA Scientist of the year award-2023, SCO Young Scientist Award by Department of Science and Technology and International Travel Scheme Award (ITS) and Young Scientist Award from DST for attending conference on 9th International conference on algae biomass, biofuels and by-products at Boulder, Colarado USA from SERB. Dr. Sharma published more than 80 publications which includes articles in prestigious International and National journals, technical bulletins, and book chapters.

Dr I. Rashmi, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist (Soil Science &Agricultural Chemistry) at ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research Centre, Kota, Rajasthan (India). She has fifteen years of experience in soil science research, training and extension work in Soil Chemistry & Fertility, soil and water conservation, watershed programmes. Her major work includes developing P saturation indices for environmental and agricultural threshold values for crop productivity and water pollution, use of nano porous zeolite, development of Mridaparikshak or rapid soil test kit which is suitable advisory programme developed for addressing soil health issues of the farmers of India.  Her research areas also include soil erosion studies under cover crops; stone mine challenges and minespoil restoration, assessing impact of soil amendments on nutrient and sediment loss in eroded areas, natural farming, conservation agriculture projects etc. She has handled more than ten projects at institute level and external funded as Principal investigator and Co-PI; published more than 30 research papers in national and international journals; more than 15 book chapters; participated in 22 national and international conferences/ symposia; attended six professional trainings; organised training programmes of national importance for farmers, various stakeholders of state and central government, NGO.

Dr. Shakir Ali, Ph.D., is presently Head and Principal Scientist (Soil and Water Conservation Engineering) in ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (IISWC), Research Centre, Kota, Rajasthan, India. He has brilliant academic record, and obtained his B. Tech (Agricultural Engineering) degree from Allahabad University, M. Tech (Soil and Water Conservation Engineering) from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, AMIE (Civil Engineering) from The Institution of Engineers (India) and Ph. D (Hydrology) from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. He started his career in ICAR as a Scientist (Soil and Water Conservation Engineering). He has vast and varied experience in the field of land degradation, artificial groundwater recharging, small watershed hydrological modelling, rainfall-runoff modelling, evaporation modelling, climate change and drought analysis. He has more than 132 publications to his credit which include research papers in journals of international and national reputes, books, book chapters, technical bulletins, popular articles and reports. He is recipient of many professional awards and is fellow of The Institution of Engineers(India), Indian Association of Soil and Water Conservationists and Indian Association of Hydrologist.

Dr. S. KALA, Ph.D., is presently working as a Senior Scientist (Forestry) at ICAR – Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research centre, Kota (Rajasthan). She was born in 1982. She completed B. Sc., (Forestry), M. Sc. (Forestry) and Ph. D (Forestry) at FC&RI Mettupalyam-Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore-Tamil Nadu. In that, She was ranked Topper of the batch for highest OGPA i.e., (9.25/10.00) in the Year 2009. She has joined in ICAR - Agricultural Research Scientist (ARS) in November, 2009. She has more than 14 year of experience in the field of natural resource management (NRM) for degraded land improvement and management of gullies /ravine land systems through agroforestry, forestry, plantation development towards environmental restoration. She has published more than 38 research papers in reputed journals of national and international. Also, published more than 25 book chapters, two edited books 25 popular articles and three bulletins exclusively from her research findings and experiences in the field of forestry and agroforestry sciences. Her work also recognised by several societies and received an outstanding women scientist award in forestry science by Venus International Foundation during 5th Annual Womens Meet - AWM 2020 at Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Agro Environmental Development Society (AEDS) Lucknow, India conferred “Young Scientist Award-2020”. Recently, She was recipient of Women Agroforestry Scientist Award-2021 from Indian Society of Agroforestry.

Dr. Ashok Kumar, Ph.D. is Principal Scientist (Agricultural Economics) at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research Centre, Kota, Rajasthan. He did his B.Sc. (Ag) degree from Rajasthan University with the first rank in merit and subsequent M.Sc. and Ph.D. dairying with a specialization in dairy economics from the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. He has more than 29 years’s research experience in natural resource economics. He receives training from organizations like IRMA-Anand, IIM-A, LBSNAA, Mussoorie, ASCI & MANAGE Hyderabad, the Egyptian International Centre for Agriculture Cairo, etc. on various socioeconomic and scientific issues. He has completed nine research projects as a leader and more than 20 as an associate, apart from two consultancies funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. He has evaluated many rural development programs, such as IRDP, watershed development projects, vaccination programs for animals, and technologies developed for reclamation of degraded lands. He has also played an important role in developing two watershed projects in Bundi and Baran districts of Rajasthan state (India) in a participatory mode to demonstrate the impact of soil and water conservation technologies in real-world field conditions. He has 45 research papers, five books, three technical bulletins, 39 book chapters, and more than 40 technical and popular articles. Besides, he has delivered a number of lectures on various socio-economic issues in more than 180 training programs organized by the Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation and other organizations. He is a life member of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, Bombay, and many other reputed scientific societies, and he is on the panel of referees for various national and international journals of repute. 

Dr M. Madhu, Ph.D. presently Director, ICAR-IISWC, Dehradun, Uttrakhand, India. He completed Ph. D in Agronomy from University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), GKVK, Bengaluru, Karnataka.  He is a recipient of UAS Gold Medal during M.Sc and Ph. D, “Dr H.R. Arakeri Gold Medal” for the best Ph. D Student in Agronomy-1995, “ARIC Award for Contribution to Crop Research-1997”, IASWC Young Soil Conservationists Award-2004 and IASWC Gold Medal-2010. He is recipient of prestigious USDA Global Research Alliance (GRA) Fellowship Programme-2011, Vasantrao Naik Award-2013, IASWC Gold Medal-2010, IASWC-Fellow-2014, ICAR-Team Research Award-2017 and Dr KG. Tejwani Award-2016-17.  He visited USA, Nepal and Bangladesh   on study and research assignments.  Dr Madhu has vast experience of research, training and outreach in the field of soil & water conservation, watershed management, conservation agronomy, agroforestry, transfer of technology, HRD of field to senior level officers and other stakeholders.   He was leader and associated in more than 20 consultancy projects related to Integrated Watershed Management and resource conservation-cum- livelihood programmes. He has to his credit more than 200 publications including research papers in reputed national and international journals, edited books, book chapters, manuals, technical reports and bulletins, symposium / workshop/ seminar papers, popular articles etc., and member of many professional bodies. He has wide work experiences in different capacities as a Senior Scientist and In-charge Head at ICAR-IISWC, Research Centre, Udhagamandalam, TN, India, Senior Scientist and Secretary of IASWC at ICAR-IISWC, Dehradun, UK, India.