Mining and floods: a systematic review of empirical studies on community resilience strategies and interventions

Mining-induced land transformations and the proximity of settlements to both extraction sites and water resources contribute to increased vulnerability, as communities emerge in flood-prone areas without sufficient risk mitigation strategies. This work presents an empirical case-based systematic literature review at the intersection of flood risk management and mining activities, addressing four research questions: how resilience is shaped in floodprone mining territories; what indicators characterize community resilience; how improvement in resilience is measured; and how mining activities can be reconciled with community settlement. Peer-reviewed empirical studies were identified through systematic searches of Scopus and Web of Science (searched: June 2025, refined: May 2026), yielding 145 records. After screening by title, keywords, and field of study, 28 studies were included. Study quality was appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Evidence was synthesized narratively through deductive coding based on the IPCC risk framework (hazard, exposure, vulnerability) and the eleven dimensions of the IFRC Community Resilience Framework. The findings indicate that the key drivers of resilience are integrated water management, nature-based solutions (NbS), governance coordination, and community participation. Resilience is constrained by governance deficits, economic dependence on extractive industries, and operational failures in risk management. Key limitations include a small corpus, a geographic bias toward the Global South, and the exclusion of grey literature. Future research should develop indicators to assess the effectiveness of NbS in mining contexts.