The Offset Design Process
44
BBOP Pilot Project Case Study – Ambatovy Project
Figure 7: Forest habitat percentage hectares loss for the mine component
(the pipeline affects only a small portion of the zonal habitat)
Based on the current iteration, calculations show that:
The project will generate a total loss of
1,168
habitat hectares that any offset will be required to
compensate.
In the mine area, the azonal forest habitat hectares score is the highest, with a total loss of 620 habitat
hectares, representing over half of the entire forest habitat lost.
The pipeline terrestrial biodiversity losses are minimal at 3.83 habitat hectares (0.33% of the total loss).
The Project’s offset programme must focus its offset efforts on the azonal forest and associated
biodiversity components, whilst ensuring that the other two habitats (transitional and zonal) habitat
hectares losses are also compensated. Early analysis of trends in lemur species distribution (based on
ESIA and construction mitigation management data) indicates that none of the three habitats has distinctly
higher species richness. Instead it appears that the combination of the three habitats underpins high lemur
species richness at Ambatovy. The azonal and other forest habitats that will be cleared during mine
construction are not required for the survival of critically endangered or endangered species, since each
lemur species found at Ambatovy is also present outside the mine area. However, the azonal forest
habitats, including the forest assemblage composed of the azonal, transitional and zonal habitats, appear
to favour the presence of lemur species biodiversity, with 16 species identified in the mine area compared
with 6 to 10 species (depending on location) in the forest corridor (Schmid and Alonso 2005)
Post-impact mitigation
By excluding post-impact
MITIGATION
, the results remain conservative. When rehabilitation (as a mitigation
measure) is considered, the habitat hectares losses are decreased by 50% within a 30 year period and there
is a trend in the decrease of the habitat hectares loss using this mitigation strategy. It is important to note that
the absence of a temporal parameter that integrates post-impact mitigation in the habitat hectares calculation
may mask a project’s success over time in reducing habitat hectares loss.
Pipeline
(Zonal ) 0.33%
Azonal
53.08%
Transitional
20.46%
Zonal
26.13%
