ABSTRACT
During one such series of interactions with the Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems (CEMDE) at the University of Delhi, the idea for the ecosystem restoration of mined-out areas was sown. The CEMDE approached Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and the Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India in 2005 to initiate ecosystem restoration of mined-out degraded areas at SAIL mines using biotechnological interventions. The Purnapani mine was selected as a suitable site to test the efficacy of the biotechnology approach for ecosystem restoration on a large scale covering about 250 acres. The ecosystem program followed the objective of assisted ecosystem restoration. Programs were designed to initiate grass cover, arrest soil erosion, stabilize slopes, rear forest communities, collect seeds and propagules from native forests, and hasten return to pre-mining ecosystem baselines. A large number of ongoing community-driven ecological services programmes are being delivered to the locals of Purnapani mined-out areas after ecological restoration.
