decisions are locked in, setting restoration and biodiversity targets early, using financial assurance to protect against abandoned liabilities, and disclosing nature-related risks and dependencies in a way that is understandable to regulators, investors, and communities. 4. MANDATORY RESTORATION AND REGENERATION Voluntary commitments cannot guarantee consistent environmental outcomes across jurisdictions. Mandatory restoration frameworks should therefore be embedded in mining policy, permitting, project finance, and corporate governance. Key components include: ▪ legally binding closure and rehabilitation plans approved before project development; ▪ financial assurance mechanisms that prevent abandoned environmental liabilities; ▪ progressive rehabilitation during operations, not only after closure; ▪ long-term monitoring with public reporting after closure; ▪ requirements for net-positive or clearly measurable improvement where ecological conditions allow; ▪ early agreement on post-mining land uses with affected communities and competent authorities. Restoration should aim to recover ecosystem functions, biodiversity, and social value, enabling land to support future economic, cultural, or ecological uses. In practice, this requires a shift from treating closure as an end-of-life cost to treating it as a design principle from exploration through post-closure monitoring. The TNFD recommendations offer a practical disclosure structure for companies and financial institutions to identify, assess, manage, and disclose nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities. Incorporating TNFD-aligned reporting can link financial incentives with ecological performance and make long-term restoration commitments more visible to investors and communities. 5. BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION Biodiversity underpins ecosystem services such as water regulation, soil fertility, climate stability, pollination, and cultural value. Mining projects should apply the mitigation hierarchy in the following order: ▪ avoid impacts wherever possible, especially in areas of high ecological or cultural value; ▪ minimize unavoidable disturbance through design, technology, and operational controls; ▪ restore affected areas progressively and after closure; ▪ offset residual impacts only as a last resort and only where scientifically credible outcomes can be achieved. Offsets should not be used to justify damage to irreplaceable ecosystems. A more credible biodiversity approach combines baseline studies, science-based targets, independent monitoring, transparent disclosure, and adaptive management. This is especially important where local communities depend on land, water, forests, or ecosystem services for livelihoods and cultural identity. 5
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