Executive Summary
7
BBOP Pilot Project Case Study – Ambatovy Project
5.
The Torotorofotsy Ramsar wetland ecosystem:
the Project is supporting the site management plan
design and implementation in conjunction with government and local NGOs; these efforts aim to ensure
the permanency of legal and managerial commitments in partnership with government and a local NGO.
6.
The pipeline right of way reforestation programme:
the programme aims at enhancing
FOREST
CONNECTIVITY
in targeted areas of the Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor through expanded reforestation
activities along the slurry pipeline right of way by conducting targeted reforestation in partnership with
government and local NGOs.
7.
The mine footprint replacement forest:
the Project aims to create a replacement, multifunctional
forest on the footprint during progressive reclamation with an established, integrated managerial
structure by mine closure.
The Ambatovy offset programme design approach was tailored according to the guidelines provided by the
BBOP Secretariat and Advisory Committee. It includes the following steps:
Step 1. Reviewing the offset project scope and activities
:
the offset project was outlined in the
ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
(ESIA), to go above and beyond the expected
regulatory requirements, and was presented during stakeholder consultation; the Project became a
pilot project in 2006 before obtaining its operating permit.
Step 2. Reviewing the legal policy context for its biodiversity offset programme
:
key elements
comprise the MECIE decree
(
Mise en Compatibilité des Investissements avec l'Environnement
,
Decree N° 2004-167 modified), the Madagascar Action Plan (MAP) 2007 – 2012, the regional and
communal development plans and the
EQUATOR PRINCIPLES
.
Step 3. Initiating stakeholder participation
:
PARTICIPATION
has been pursued since the ESIA stage,
engaging the Project’s shareholders, government, financiers, NGOs and local communities in the
design of the offset programme and integrating their feedback.
Step 4. Determining the need for an offset based on residual adverse effects
:
the Project’s principal
impacts on natural systems and biodiversity were assessed by the project ESIA.
DIRECT IMPACTS
were predicted to occur at the mine area through the phased clearing of the 1,336 ha mine footprint
within an ecologically sensitive semi-pristine forest mosaic. The
KEY BIODIVERSITY COMPONENTS
in
the mine area and upper slurry pipeline portion include significant numbers of fauna (16 lemurs, 62
birds, 123 herpetofauna), fish and 376 flora species, three structurally distinct
HABITAT TYPES
and a
landscape-level habitat assemblage with functional interactions between its forest habitats. A very
substantial
MITIGATION
programme was implemented through the Ambatovy Project’s Biodiversity
Management Plan (BMP). The Project’s most significant
RESIDUAL IMPACTS
occur at the mine site,
including both direct impacts through the clearing of the 1,336 ha footprint (and associated
biodiversity) and indirect residual impacts from edge effects on the environmental buffer (790 ha).
Other key Project components are located in areas that are already heavily and historically
degraded and thus have negligible negative impacts on biodiversity.
Step 5. Methods to calculate
LOSSES
/
GAINS
and quantify residual losses
:
the Project used the
BENCHMARK
and
HABITAT HECTARES
methodology to determine the scale of the offset needed to achieve the
CONSERVATION GAINS
that will achieve no net loss of biodiversity. The Project will generate a total loss
of 1,168 habitat hectares that any offset will be required to compensate; this result will be refined with
complementary fauna quantitative data acquired in early 2009. Socioeconomic losses and
compensations from the offset programme will be determined during 2009.
