A practical framework for scenario-based optimal decision-making on water-deficient river ecological restoration in mining areas

Abstract

Mining activities may cause serious damages to the river ecological environment in mining areas. It has been realized that challenging is faced for optimal decision-making on the river ecological restoration resulting from system complexity, multi-objectives, long term restoration in which multiple stages may be needed to take, and difficulty in detailed process quantification. By analyzing and fully reflecting the differences between the central zone and surrounding zones of the restored river passing through the mining area, the comprehensive evaluation index systems of the central zone and surrounding zones are separately suggested firstly. Then a scenario-based optimization decision-making model for river ecological restoration in mining areas was established with taking advantages of spatial divisions and following procedure of first going through optimization by sub-region level, then optimizing by integration. Then, a framework for scenario-based optimal decision-making on water-deficient river ecological restoration in mining areas is proposed in which a multi-objective and multi-stage spatial division optimization method is considered to improve decision-making efficiency and enhance its practicability. It is indicated that this optimization framework is reasonable and practical, which is expected to offer reliable decision support in identifying the effective solutions on optimal management of the water-deficient river ecological restoration in mining areas. At the same time, it has implications in general land reclamation and ecological restoration in the mining areas.