Land Rehabilitation

A re-engineering process that attempts to restore an area of land back to its natural state after it has been damaged as a result of some sort of disruption. The process involves such things as removing all man-made structures, toxins and other dangerous substances, improving the soil conditions and adding new flora.

Although land rehabilitation is most often used to rectify problems caused by man-made processes such as mining, oil drilling and other petrol-chemical related processes, it is also used to "clean up" natural processes. For example, natural disasters such as earthquakes and flooding can also cause damage to the natural environment. Land rehabilitation techniques can be used to speed up the amount of time necessary to restore the location to back to its original state.

The demand for reclamation or rehabilitation has increased during the last few decades as resource firms become increasingly environmentally conscious and new environmental-protection laws are introduced. However, rehabilitation can be a very costly process, especially if there is a toxic cleanup involved.