Keynote: Rehabilitation in context: why evolving criteria and land use expectations matter

Authors: Commander, L; Saveedra-Mella, F; Mansfield, T; Tibbett, M

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DOI https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2615_0.02

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Commander, L, Saveedra-Mella, F, Mansfield, T & Tibbett, M 2026, 'Rehabilitation in context: why evolving criteria and land use expectations matter', in AB Fourie, G Boggs, J Heyes & M Tibbett (eds), Mine Closure 2026: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Mine Closure, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 1-10, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/2615_0.02

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Abstract:
Over the past 50 years, Alcoa of Australia (‘Alcoa’) has invested in long-term environmental research to inform mine rehabilitation across its bauxite operations in south-west Western Australia. This paper reflects on how rehabilitation science and practice have evolved over time, driven by improved ecological understanding, operational learning, and changing societal expectations. Expectations for rehabilitation outcomes tied to post-mining land use at Alcoa have also shifted, often involving tradeoffs between objectives such as timber production and biodiversity conservation, and complexities surrounding water catchment protection and recreational access, particularly with local communities and a major metropolitan area nearby. As these priorities have evolved, so too have rehabilitation approaches, completion criteria, and monitoring frameworks. In recent years, rehabilitation performance at Alcoa has attracted increased public scrutiny. Relevant to this scrutiny, historic rehabilitation practices can be misunderstood, stakeholders may not have a complete understanding of evolving practices, and research outputs and methods have changed over time. Public expectations of rehabilitation outcomes may not always align with agreed regulatory commitments or with what is realistically achievable in complex forest ecosystems. Rehabilitation areas must necessarily be interpreted in the context of the standards, agreed land use objectives, and scientific knowledge that applied at the time of establishment, rather than assessed just through contemporary lenses alone. This paper emphasises the need for context aware, transparent, and reproducible approaches to describing rehabilitation outcomes, focusing on recovery progress and achievement of individual SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) targets, rather than binary judgements about rehabilitation outcomes. It also outlines Alcoa’s applied, co-designed research model, in which site-based practitioners and multidisciplinary scientific collaborators work together to address knowledge gaps, improve decision-making, and support continuous improvement in future rehabilitation outcomes.

Keywords: completion criteria, ecosystem reconstruction, forest ecology, mine rehabilitation, restoration ecology, success criteria

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