Estimating the Cost of damages to Ecosystem Services Due to Metals Mining of copper, gold, bauxite and iron Ore in Iran and its comparative analysis with the cost of global damages

Subject Areas : Environmental Economics

jalil badamfirooz ¹ (Associate Professor, Research group of environmental economics, Research Center for Environment and Sustainable Development (RCESD), Department of Environment, Tehran, I.R. Iran. *(Corresponding author))
Roya Mousazadeh ² (Assistant Professor, Research group of environmental economics, Research Center for Environment and Sustainable Development (RCESD), Department of Environment, Tehran, I.R. Iran.)
hamid sarkheil ³ (Associate Professor, Department of Applied Geology, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.)

Received: 2021-07-05 Accepted : 2021-08-24 Published : 2022-04-21

Keywords: Benefit Transfer Approach, Damages Cost, Metal Mining, Ecosystem services,

Abstract :

Background and Objective: Metal mining has significant negative effects on natural ecosystems within the mining site. Considering that the consequences of metal mining on ecosystem services provided by natural ecosystems within the influence of the mining sites in the country have not been evaluated so far, the main objective of this study is to estimate the cost of environmental damages in order to protect natural ecosystems which can better facilitate decision making of the environmental planners. Material and Methodology:  In this study, the cost of the damages on ecosystem services due to metal mining was estimated using the benefits transfer approach, and a comparative analysis of the estimated damages with global findings related to the ecosystem services costs of the four four metals gold, copper, bauxite, and iron ore were conducted in 2020. Findings: In this rsearch, the total cost of damages to ecosystem services (loss of ecosystem services values) due to mining of four metals gold, copper, bauxite, and iron ore, in the total relevant biomes, is estimated at 57253180 million IRR (equivalent to the US $ 248 million) in the year (2020), which Its share is estimated at 4.6% compared to the global estimate of the total cost of ecosystem services resulting from the mining of four metals, gold, iron ore, copper and bauxite ($ 5.4 billion in  2016), which is a significant figure. The share of the total cost of ecosystem services due to mining the four metals in the forest ecosystem is approximately 86%, in the rangeland ecosystem 14%, and for the wetland ecosystem 0.06%. Discussion and Conclusion: The highest damage costs for ES are estimated for forest and rangeland ecosystems, respectively. Therefore, it is necessary to try to create and implement sustainable development laws in the mining life cycle, even after the closure of mines due to long-term effects on the environment.

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