Introduction to the Ecological Restoration of Kettara Mine: Marrakech Region: Local Vegetation Cover, Strategies, and Challenges

In Morocco, many mining sites have been abandoned over the years. Without the implementation of a closure plan, unmanaged tailings and mining waste cause harm to the surrounding environment through their negative impacts: water pollution; destruction and disruption of natural habitats; landscape degradation, particularly affecting flora and fauna; and health impacts on the local population. The Kettara pyrrhotite mine site, located 30 km north-northwest of Marrakech, is one of many abandoned mining sites in Morocco that generates acid mine drainage (AMD), which, on the one hand, pollutes and contaminates surface water and groundwater; and, on the other hand, poses a serious threat to the surrounding ecosystem. To limit and control the AGD generated at this site, several approaches have been considered, notably the use of local plant diversity. With this in mind, we conducted a study of the vascular plants at the mine with the dual objective of first assessing its floristic diversity and, second, identifying the role that this diversity could play in the mine's rehabilitation project.