Editing IPCC:AR6/SROCC/Chapter-2 (section)

=== 2.3.4 Infrastructure and Mining ===

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There is ''high confidence'' that permafrost thaw has had negative impacts on the integrity of infrastructure in high mountain areas. Like in polar regions (Section 3.4.3.3.4), the local effects of infrastructure together with climate change degraded permafrost beneath and around structures (Dall’Amico et al., 2011 <sup>[[#fn:r857|857]]</sup> ; Doré et al., 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r858|858]]</sup> ) Infrastructure on permafrost in the European Alps, mostly found near mountain summits but not in major valleys, has been destabilised by permafrost thaw, including mountain stations in France and Austria (Ravanel et al., 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r859|859]]</sup> ; Keuschnig et al., 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r860|860]]</sup> ; Duvillard et al., 2019 <sup>[[#fn:r861|861]]</sup> ) as well as avalanche defence structures (Phillips and Margreth, 2008 <sup>[[#fn:r862|862]]</sup> ) and a ski lift (Phillips et al., 2007 <sup>[[#fn:r863|863]]</sup> ) in Switzerland. On the Tibetan Plateau, deformation or damage has been found on roads (Yu et al., 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r864|864]]</sup> ; Chai et al., 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r865|865]]</sup> ), power transmission infrastructure (Guo et al., 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r866|866]]</sup> ) and around an oil pipeline (Yu et al., 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r867|867]]</sup> ). For infrastructure on permafrost, engineering practices suitable for polar and high mountain environments (Doré et al., 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r868|868]]</sup> ) as well as specific for steep terrain (Bommer et al., 2010 <sup>[[#fn:r869|869]]</sup> ) have been developed to support adaptation.

In some mountain regions, glacier retreat and related processes of change in the cryosphere have afforded greater accessibility for extractive industries and related activities to mine minerals and metals ( ''medium confidence'' ). Accelerated glacier shrinkage and retreat have been reported to facilitate mining activities in Chile, Argentina and Peru (Brenning, 2008 <sup>[[#fn:r870|870]]</sup> ; Brenning and Azócar, 2010 <sup>[[#fn:r871|871]]</sup> ; Anacona et al., 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r872|872]]</sup> ), and Kyrgyzstan (Kronenberg, 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r873|873]]</sup> ; Petrakov et al., 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r874|874]]</sup> ), which also interact with and have consequences for other social, cultural, economic, political and legal measures, where climate change impacts also play a role (Brenning and Azócar, 2010 <sup>[[#fn:r875|875]]</sup> ; Evans et al., 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r876|876]]</sup> ; Khadim, 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r877|877]]</sup> ; Anacona et al., 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r878|878]]</sup> ). However, negative impacts due to cryosphere changes may also occur. One study projects that reductions in glacier melt water and snowmelt in the watershed in the Chilean Andes will lead to a reduction of water supply to a copper mine by 2075–2100 of 28% under scenario A2 and of 6% under B2; construction of infrastructure to draw water from other sources will cost between 16–137 million USD (Correa-Ibanez et al., 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r879|879]]</sup> ).

Conversely, there is also evidence suggesting that some of these mining activities affect glaciers locally, and the mountain environment around them, further altering glacier dynamics, glacier structure and permafrost degradation. This is due mainly to excavation, extraction, and use of explosives (Brenning, 2008 <sup>[[#fn:r880|880]]</sup> ; Brenning and Azócar, 2010 <sup>[[#fn:r881|881]]</sup> ; Kronenberg, 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r882|882]]</sup> ), and deposition of dust and other mine waste material close to or top of glaciers during extraction and transportation (Brenning, 2008 <sup>[[#fn:r883|883]]</sup> ; Torgoev and Omorov, 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r884|884]]</sup> ; Arenson et al., 2015b <sup>[[#fn:r885|885]]</sup> ; Jamieson et al., 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r886|886]]</sup> ). These activities have reportedly generated slope instabilities (Brenning, 2008 <sup>[[#fn:r887|887]]</sup> ; Brenning and Azócar, 2010 <sup>[[#fn:r888|888]]</sup> ; Torgoev and Omorov, 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r889|889]]</sup> ), glacier mass loss due to enhanced surface melt from dust and debris deposition (Torgoev and Omorov, 2014 <sup>[[#fn:r890|890]]</sup> ; Arenson et al., 2015b <sup>[[#fn:r891|891]]</sup> ; Petrakov et al., 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r892|892]]</sup> ), and even glacier advance by several kilometres (Jamieson et al., 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r893|893]]</sup> ), although their impact is considered less than that reported for changes in glaciers due to climatic change ( ''limited evidence, medium agreement'' ). Glacier Protection Laws and similar measures have been introduced in countries such as Chile and Argentina to address these impacts (Khadim, 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r894|894]]</sup> ; Anacona et al., 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r895|895]]</sup> ; Navarro et al., 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r896|896]]</sup> ). In addition, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a declaration in 2018 to “ protect and restore water-related ecosystems” in mountain areas as elsewhere from contamination by mining (UNHRC, 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r897|897]]</sup> ); however, evidence on the effectiveness of these measures remains inconclusive.

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