While Exploring World Class Landscape Restoration for his Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travelling Fellowship, Pete Whitbread-Abrutat spent several days in Brazil’s Amazon basin researching rainforest restoration after mining. He visited MRN’s Trombetas bauxite mine, developed in the 1970s and still operating; Alcoa’s new Juruti bauxite mine on the banks of the Amazon river; and Vale’s Carajas iron mine in Para state.Each is a world class mine covering expansive areas with extensive land-holdings and are major drivers for Brazil’s economic development. Pete’s aim was to research the challenges, drivers and approaches at each mine for restoring the rainforest.
Pete held detailed discussions with staff at each mine revolving around their permitting requirements, forest restoration processes, motivations and challenges, and received detailed tours of the mines’ operations and restoration work, including tours of the nurseries, restoration projects young and old, research plots and labs, and communities. The mines are learning from each other on how to address forest landscape restoration challenges in the Amazon, including the strong socio-economic imperatives that need to be incorporated into closure and rehabilitation planning. The theses are provided in the report Exploring World Class Landscape Restoration, in the context of broader landscape restoration, which is available here.
