Systematic and bibliographic review of sustainability indicators for contaminated site remediation: Comparison between China and western nations

Xiaonuo Li; Andrew B Cundy; Weiping Chen; Sidan Lyu

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2021.111490

Systematic and bibliographic review of sustainability indicators for contaminated site remediation: Comparison between China and western nations

Environ Res. 2021 Sep:200:111490. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111490. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Authors

Xiaonuo Li¹, Andrew B Cundy², Weiping Chen³, Sidan Lyu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Soil Environmental Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China.
² School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO14 3ZH, UK.
³ Laboratory of Soil Environmental Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China; College of Resource and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China. Electronic address: wpchen@rcees.ac.cn.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.

PMID: 34116018
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111490

Abstract

Sustainable remediation, which promotes the use of more sustainable practices during environmental clean-up activities, is an area of intense international development. While numerous indicators related to sustainable remediation assessment have been utilized and published in related academic literature, they are difficult to unify and vary in emphasis between countries. Following literature retrieval from CNKI, Springer, ScienceDirect, and Wiley Online databases, we present a systematic and bibliometric analysis of relevant national and international literature to define the most frequently considered indicators of sustainability, which play important roles in selecting remediation technologies or site management methods from a sustainability perspective. Following the application of co-occurrence analysis and social network analysis, the results indicate that 1) environmental criteria are most commonly used in evaluating remediation technologies, with significantly less emphasis on social criteria in Chinese publications in particular; 2) with an increasing number of publications in the last 20 years, sustainable remediation has gone through an initial stage, rising stage, and burst or wider adoption stage, characterized by a transformation of the research theme from a predominantly risk-based management approach to a sustainability-based one, with risk management as an underpinning principle; 3) health, resource, cost, and time are the most widely used indicators in terms of social, environmental, economic, and technical criteria, respectively; 4) clear differences exist between China and other nations, particularly in the frequency of usage of each indicator, the application of social criteria, and preferred stakeholders. Nevertheless, China has made significant progress and now makes increasing contributions to sustainable remediation at an international level.

Keywords: Co-occurrence analysis; Contaminated site management; Evaluation indicator; Social network analysis; Sustainable remediation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

China
Conservation of Natural Resources*
Environmental Restoration and Remediation*
Risk Management