Mining reclamation and biodiversity

Who are you and what do you do?

Hello everyone, my name is Sandra Pouliot and I’m a senior mining environment engineer on the sustainable mining development team with the Mines and Metallurgy group of AtkinsRéalis . I worked in the mining industry for 18 years prior to joining the Company in 2019.  I hold a bachelor’s degree in geological engineering and a master’s in mineral engineering on a mining reclamation project.

What are the most important elements or fundamental of biodiversity and how do they impact your daily life both personally and at work?

As a person who spends time in the great outdoors, I am concerned by the changes in our environment. It is important for me to find ways to minimize our impacts and counter the negative effects of development. As a mining environment professional, I see great opportunities to mitigate the impacts using innovation which can be incorporated in existing and future projects for our clients.

What inspired you to advocate for biodiversity on a professional level?

We have a great opportunity to implement a biodiversity gain in the reclamation of mine sites. We can implement projects beneficial to biodiversity at several sites and within large areas. We already design mine reclamation projects for our clients; we can easily ensure they also include a positive impact to the local biodiversity. Canadian mining companies remain committed to the Mining Association of Canada’s Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative, which includes a biodiversity protocol for operations in the country and abroad. Therefore, many of our clients can see the added value of projects with a biodiversity aspect. I feel AtkinsRéalis can, and should, become a leader in the consulting world to offer such services to our clients.

Why should the average person care about biodiversity, why is it important for all of us?

Everyone should be aware and care about biodiversity simply because we all share the same environment and benefit from the ecoservices rendered by the different living beings around us. One might not see the importance of the loss of one specie, but in fact, everything in our world is delicately balanced. It’s the cumulative loss and the rate at which the decline in biodiversity is happening that will impact our lives. For example, without pollinating insects we would not have 80% of the fruits, vegetables and cereals we consume daily.

What projects have you worked on that have positive impacts from biodiversity in the area?

For the past three years, I have had the chance to coordinate the efforts of an initiative to reestablish pollinating insects in the province of Quebec. Our group is made up of members from mining companies, municipalities, consulting groups and other service suppliers to the industry. From the beginning we have been supported by entomologists from the Montreal Insectarium and Professor Marie Guittonny from the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), who specialize in mine site revegetation. Our group has been very active, participating in research projects and implementing gardens for pollinators in different mine sites and municipalities. Learning how to create new habitat for pollinating insects and to face the challenges of mine site revegetation is a great opportunity. Our goal is to take what we’ve learned and apply it on a much larger scale to mine reclamation projects.

Are there any other projects that stand out for you where AtkinsRéalis has really made a difference towards promoting and protecting biodiversity?

In the past months, I had the pleasure of participating on a committee with other Atkins-AtkinsRéalis Lavalin professionals. Our company is doing impressive work in different parts of the world, in the UK, Australia, the United States, Peru and Canada. It’s important for us to share our experience and learn from one another to improve our projects. For example, the work on biodiversity net gain by Claire Wansbury and her colleagues have clearly made a difference to promote and protect biodiversity. Also, the work done by Don Deis and his team in Florida is very inspiring.

Just for fun… Do you have a favourite type of ecosystem and why

I might not have said this a few years ago, but my recent work involving pollinating insects opened my eyes to their great diversity and the different ecosystems in which they thrive. They may not all be very attractive, but it’s amazing to see how such small beings play such important roles in nature. It’s worth getting to know them better!