Sustainable Use and Management of the Subsurface

The subsurface is and has always been essential to human survival and development. Apart from transport (tunnels) and extraction (mines), the subsurface hosts a myriad of human activities. Increasing land pressures inevitably drives us toward a more intensive use of the subsurface. Sustainable use and management of the subsurface requires forward thinking and planning based on proper geological data. Inadequate legislation and lack of long-term vision together with reluctant public perception still hamper such underground development.