Institut de Ciències i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Departament de Geografia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Catalunya, Spain.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2018 Dec 3;374(1764):20180006. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0006.
The scientific literature distinguishes between primary or natural and secondary or human-induced salinization. Assessing this distinction is of vital importance to assign liabilities and responsibilities in pollution cases and for designing the best policy and management actions. In this context, actors interested in downplaying the role of certain drivers of human-induced salinization can attempt to neglect its importance by referring to natural salinization, in a similar fashion to other pollution and health-related cases, from tobacco smoke to climate change. Potash mining, which has experienced continued growth during the last decades and is a significant contributor to salinization, is prone to originate such controversies because natural salinization from the saline geological catch can be mixed with salinization produced by mining waste such as brines and mine tailings, thus obscuring the distinction between causes. By reviewing the long-standing social and environmental conflict caused by potash mining in a region of Mediterranean climate-the Llobregat river basin-in this article, we highlight the importance of the impacts of salinization on human health and provide a critical social science perspective on salinization processes.This article is part of the theme issue 'Salt in freshwaters: causes, ecological consequences and future prospects'.
科学文献将盐分形成分为原生或自然的和次生或人为的。区分这一区别对于在污染案件中分配责任以及制定最佳政策和管理措施至关重要。在这种情况下，那些有意淡化人为盐分形成某些驱动因素作用的行为者，可能会试图通过提及自然盐分形成来忽视其重要性，就像在其他与污染和健康相关的案例中一样，从烟草烟雾到气候变化。钾盐开采在过去几十年中持续增长，是盐分形成的重要因素，因此容易引发此类争议，因为来自含盐地质汇的自然盐分可能会与盐水和矿渣等采矿废物产生的盐分混合，从而模糊了原因之间的区别。本文通过回顾在一个地中海气候区（即 Llobregat 河流域）长期存在的钾盐开采所引发的社会和环境冲突，强调了盐分形成对人类健康的影响，并从社会科学的角度对盐分形成过程进行了批判性分析。本文是“淡水中的盐分：成因、生态后果和未来展望”主题专刊的一部分。
