The level and nature of sustainability for clusters of abandoned limestone quarries in the southern Palestinian West Bank

The question of how sustainable a mining site is at the end of its operational life has been somewhat unanswered. The fundamental problem has been how to evaluate the sustainability of a mining site once operations cease and is abandoned. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is certainly a way to evaluate sustainability of such sites, but only through inference and subjective evaluation. This is because the topic of sustainability still hotly debated, and is predominantly focussed on an anthropocentric approach. Even with quantitative-based EIAs, the question is how to directly evaluate sustainability from the data available using a consistent quantitative approach rather than on a case-by-case basis or subjective evaluation.

However, by using the ideas and concepts concerning the coupled relationship between the environment and humans prevalent in sustainability science, the question of what is and how to evaluate sustainability has become capable of being answered. Based on previous work of the author in the development and application of a mathematical model of sustainability, the paper applies the model to the results of a quantitative EIA evaluation for nine clusters of abandoned limestone quarries located in the southern Palestinian West Bank.

The results indicate that seven of the nine clusters were deemed to be unsustainable, whilst the other two clusters were considered as sustainable at a very weak level only. The results are discussed within the broader context of the coupled environment-human system using one of the supporting frameworks for the development and application of the mathematical model of sustainability: Earth System Analysis. Within this context, the discussion indicates the fact that unmanaged impacts by humans has created the situation for unsustainability to occur. The paper therefore provides for the clearest indication yet of the nature of sustainability at the end of the mining operational life-cycle without an effective and proper management strategy or policies.