Turning barren landscapes into climate-change fighters

Home Turning barren landscapes into climate-change fighters

“This research brings together industrial, community, and government stakeholders to transform an industrially-impacted landscape into biodiverse and well-functioning ecosystems.”

Nathan Basiliko, Canadian Research Chair in Environmental Microbiology and co-lead of the L-CARE research project

Turning barren landscapes into climate-change fighters

Past mining activity in the Greater Sudbury area has left behind large wastelands in need of reclamation. Laurentian University’s L-Care project is looking at how to reclaim those barren lands while reducing the local mining industry’s carbon footprint.

L-Care (Landscape Carbon Accumulation through Reductions in Emissions) is investigating how to manage the reclamation of more than 30,000 hectares as part of a carbon sequestration strategy in relation to extensive hard rock mining.

It’s estimated that the carbon storage potential of these barren and semi-barren lands could be enough to balance 10 years of carbon emissions by local industry, while creating biodiverse ecosytems. The project’s research partners include the City of Sudbury and local mining companies Vale Canada and Glencore.