Reframing mine rehabilitation: a systematic review of adaptive ecological restoration, with special reference to the implications for South Africa's mined landscapes

This paper provides a chronological synthesis of scholarship on adaptive ecological restoration and examines its emergence within mine rehabilitation literature, with particular reference to its implications for South Africa's mining sector. Mining landscapes are characterized by long-term ecological degradation, hydrological instability, and social-ecological vulnerability, while conventional rehabilitation approaches have increasingly been criticized for their limited capacity to respond to environmental uncertainty and changing ecosystem conditions. Adaptive ecological restoration has therefore emerged as a more flexible, learning-oriented, and systems-based approach. The study employed a systematic literature review using peer-reviewed publications sourced from Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science. Literature published between 2000 and 2025 was identified using the keywords “adaptive ecological restoration,” “adaptive management,” “mine rehabilitation,” “mine closure,” “ecological restoration,” and “post-mining landscapes.” Following predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, the selected studies were analyzed through thematic and chronological synthesis. The paper also presents illustrative South African practice vignettes demonstrating how adaptive restoration principles may be operationalised in post-mining landscapes. The findings identify three phases in the evolution of adaptive ecological restoration scholarship: an early conceptual phase emphasizing ecological resilience and adaptive management; a transitional phase integrating social-ecological systems and environmental governance; and a contemporary phase characterized by stakeholder-inclusive, ecosystem-based, and climate-responsive restoration strategies. The review further identifies core principles, including long-term monitoring, iterative decision-making, ecosystem resilience, community participation, and integrated environmental governance. The study concludes that adaptive ecological restoration provides a robust governance and learning framework for addressing uncertainty in mine rehabilitation, supporting resilient post-mining landscapes, and advancing sustainable restoration practice in South Africa and other mining-dependent regions.