Scientific Meeting on Fundão Dam Rupture Carried Out With Great Success

Ross Smith, Hydrobiology, and Tatiana Furley, Aplysia

The second Fundão Dam Rupture Science Meeting was held from 21–22 September in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil. A pre-meeting field trip was organized to visit the site of the incident, where participants learned about operational changes and the technology the mining companies had implemented to ensure greater safety. Field trip attendees were able to see examples of the Rio Gualaxo do Norte river restoration project, a nature-based rehabilitation solution.

A total of 100 delegates attended the on-site meeting, which featured high-quality oral presentations and posters over the two days, and lively discussions of the science that was presented. The meeting included 11 platform presentations, two keynote speakers, and a roundtable on the topic of restoration challenges and how best to redirect efforts in a changing environment. Thirty-three posters were presented on the first day, and a further 32 on day two, demonstrating that research into the incident remains a vibrant focus as we approach its seventh anniversary. In the discussions, it was agreed that a benefit of the additional three years since that last meeting was the much greater availability of good quality data, resulting in clearer understanding of the timing and trends of impacts and recovery resulting from the incident. The meeting was conducted in both Portuguese and English, which facilitated incorporation of insights from around the world, all focused on the meeting topic and comparable incidents.

All presenters of oral presentations were required to submit manuscripts for review by the conference organizing committee, which consists of tripartite peers from government, academia and business. Abstracts and manuscripts were able to be submitted in either English or Portuguese. For authors new to publishing in the international literature, the review process provided an opportunity for constructive commentary. All authors who submitted manuscripts are currently being encouraged to submit them through the conference secretariate for possible inclusion in a special issue of the SETAC journal Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (IEAM). The special issue that resulted from the first meeting was a great success, and was the first time that IEAM provided abstracts in two languages.

This focused topic meeting was organized by SETAC Latin America. The topic of the meeting, the environmental impacts and rehabilitation of the largest known tailings dam rupture, remains topical in Brazil and continues to have considerable media coverage nationally and internationally. Delegates appreciated the scientific focus, multidisciplinary approach and multi-stakeholder engagement of the meeting, and the value of sharing updated scientific knowledge three years after the first meeting. There were unanimous calls for continuing the meeting series as the benefit of the knowledge gained is not restricted to this incident but is applicable more broadly to major environmental incident responses across Brazil, Latin America and globally.

Author's contact: Tatiana Heid Furley, [email protected]