Interim Report: An Overview Of Four Mining Company Biodiversity Policies

This report provides an overview of the biodiversity policies and stated environmental performance with respect to biodiversity of four major mining companies operating in Australia (Xstrata, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Anglo American). The aim of this report is to provide a synthesis of the collective information contained within these policy documents, to identify similarities and differences between policies, and cast the collective policy position in the context of current scientific understanding on biodiversity.

Corporate biodiversity policies have evolved over the last 17 years and companies now express a desire to generate additional environmental benefits that maintain ecosystem function and ensure delivery of critical ecosystem goods and services for the benefit of society. The principle findings of this report are:

• The mining industry has been proactive in developing policy on biodiversity conservation at the corporate, national and international peak-body level. While policies differ among companies in their details, all clearly recognise the relationship between biodiversity issues and the mining industry's maintenance of the social 'license-to-operate' through demonstrating a commitment to sustainable development principles;
• The understanding and industry response around biodiversity issues has become more sophisticated since the introduction of the UN Convention on Biodiversity in 1992 and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005. Over time the development of corporate policy and operational tools have facilitated the assessment and management of biodiversity issues in a coordinated manner across sites within companies;
• While wider recognition of environmental issues exists within these policies, an understanding of the need to maintain regional scale ecosystem functions that support ecosystem goods and services, including the cumulative impacts of multiple mines on ecosystem services, is still emerging. There is also a recognition of the interconnectedness of biodiversity, land use change, water availability and climate change issues that requires companies to develop a strategic view on managing the impacts of these multiple environmental issues; and,
• To meet future environmental challenges, the focus of biodiversity conservation management plans needs to be expanded from preserving rare and threatened species and establishment of refugia to the wider issues of preserving the diversity of ecosystem function and ensuring the delivery of the ecosystem services. In future, environmental offset mechanisms will play an increasingly important role in maintaining these ecosystem goods and services. However, in most cases, management tools are yet to be developed to assist the implementation of corporate objectives of additional environmental benefits at the site level. Currently, company aspirations on implementing programs aimed at preserving ecosystem function are running ahead of the scientific research needed to deliver these operational tools to industry.

There are potential benefits that could be achieved both on- and off-lease through the examination of the interconnected issues of species diversity, ecosystem function and provision of ecosystem services thereby delivering multiple environmental outcomes from single conservation investments. Future directions for the development of biodiversity policies across the industry, their current limitations and gaps are presented in this report to provide a context for ongoing work being undertaken in the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) funded project 'A Quantitative Approach to Improving the Business of Biodiversity Investment' (C17030). This project is focused on the potential for delivery of multiple environmental benefits that could be achieved by taking into account ecosystem function when making biodiversity conservation decisions.