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16th January 2023
12:00 GMT

Virtual Seminar

Ottone Scammacca:
Georesources, Risks and Sustainable Land-Planning Scenarios in Mining Regions: a Framework Tested on Gold Mining in French Guiana

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A mining project should be considered as a matter of land-planning and territorial management rather than a simple industrial object. Furthermore, mining is not the only way to valorize georesources. Ottone Scammacca aims to develop an approach that has the goal to propose and compare different development strategies for land-planning purposes in mining regions. This methodology is firstly applied on the case of gold mining in French Guiana as a demonstrative example to compare different mining scenarios based on their risk assessment. In this French region in the Amazon, gold exploitation plays a critical role within territory dynamics, taking a great variety of forms in a very sensitive socio-ecological context. Furthermore, gold commodities are still underexploited, increasing public debates and the urgent needs for public authorities to develop future strategies that might integrate the development of gold mining activities at a regional level. In a second moment, French Guiana georesources will be regarded not only for their mining interest but through the prysm of the concept of "geodiversity" in order to assess their wider role within the territory.

    Ottone ScammaccaFrench Research Institute for Development (IRD)

Dr. Ottone Scammacca is a geographer and soil scientist working with soil ecosystem services, soil contamination, land reclamation and land-planning. After two years working with the French National Institute of Agricultural and Environmentam Research (INRAE) as a researcher and assistant professor in soil sciences and soil ecosystem services (EJP Programme), Dr Scammacca is currently employed at the French Research Institute for Development working on several projects concerning the characterization, assessment and integration of pedological and geological resources within land management in French Guiana as well as on the assessment and mapping of geo-ecosystem services and their perceptions by local stakeholders.