Abstract
During the last two decades the enhanced multiple use of underground resources and space led to a growing number of issues which the current European Union (EU) and/or its Member States (MS) national legal and regulatory frameworks and knowledge bases are not able to manage efficiently, from a sustainable development perspective. With a focus on Europe, this study is a horizon scanning review to raise awareness on this situation and highlight new need for governance solutions which may fit diverse legal and authority settings in the different jurisdictions, and support the transition towards a more circular economy, decoupling subsurface resources and space use from the negative impacts this use frequently causes. It involves the legal acknowledgement of underground resources and space as mostly finite resources. The identification of resources owners, the conflicting interests of the multiple stakeholders, the clear designation of the physical conditions and dynamics related to each resource category, the interactions between subsurface and surface resources are making the regulation, planning and use of subsurface natural resources a complex, but necessary task for public authorities. Establishing a harmonized public authority scheme of permitting and sustainable resource management, supported by the development of a 3D (and 4D) information and resource classification system should be a priority for the EU and its MS. The preliminary results and legal analogues indicate that underground space utilization can also be assessed in the criticality context.
Highlights
Natural caves for shelter, excavation pits for stones and storage are dated back to prehistoric times and the use of underground space evolved over the history (Hooke, 2015; Von der Tann et al, 2020)
Visioners consider geoengineering a potential response to global challenges2 (Gardiner and McKinnon, 2020), and six of the fourteen global megatrends are directly related to the utilization of underground space (European Commission (EC), 2020c)
On the basis of current knowledge, this study provides a review of the present and potential future uses of underground space with a simplified typology and a summary of their interlinked issues; assesses the legis lation in force in the European Union (EU) and its Member States (MS), and the competent authority scheme; presents the information management practices and concepts; and outlines a proxy assessment of underground resources in the context of criticality
Summary
Natural caves for shelter, excavation pits for stones and storage are dated back to prehistoric times and the use of underground space evolved over the history (Hooke, 2015; Von der Tann et al, 2020). Four research clusters are identified in this field, on urbanization, on engineering of under ground infrastructures, on subsurface natural resources extraction, and on spatial information management originating either from the land use planning or the georesources domain (3D data acquisition, data modelling, representation and dissemination). A limited number of works address the legal complexity of underground space use in different countries (International Tunnelling Association, 2000; Hamor et al, 2020; Volchko et al, 2020), and articles on the legal framework are usually restricted to the national scale (Kishii, 2016; Takasaki et al, 2000; Zhou and Zhao, 2016). Under the principle of conferral, the Union acts only within the limits of the competences conferred upon it in the TFEU
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