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Spatiotemporal Analysis of Mining-induced Vegetation Loss in Homonhon Island using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index: Possible Impacts on Biodiversity and Community
Authors: Margaux Angelica Cruz and Francesca Deighl Rivera

Global mining production increased by 52% from 2000-2020 (Reichl & Schatz, 2022). Nickel and chromite accounted for 59% and 7% of operating mines (Austrade, 2023), making the Philippines the world’s second-largest nickel producer after Indonesia. Mining drives economic growth and employment, BUT causes environmental and social impacts such as deforestation, habitat loss, and biodiversity decline (Conde & Le Billon, 2017; Schoderer & Ott, 2022). Mining has increasingly encroached into tropical forests and protected areas (Stanimirova et al., 2024), and many mineral deposits overlap with biodiversity hotspots (Murguía et al., 2016).

This study is part of the Philippine Geomatics Symposium (PhilGEOS) on 24-25 November 2025 at the GT Toyota Asian Center Auditorium, University of the Philippines Diliman in Quezon City.

More information here.