Biodiversity

Each Rio Tinto operation is required to develop an awareness of the biological diversity of its sites and the surrounding region and manage issues arising from them.

A survey of the awareness of biodiversity at our operations was undertaken at the end of 2001. This found that 88 per cent of our operations had undertaken an assessment of biodiversity, with over 50 per cent of these undertaken prior to the commencement of production. Over 300 individual assessments have been completed.

While biodiversity issues are well represented in environment management plans, monitoring and in closure planning, there has been less focus on engaging with indigenous people and employees on their priorities for biodiversity management. More on the biodiversity survey.

We need to improve the quality of the scientific standards used in the surveys, to ensure that the appropriate data exists for setting priorities for biodiversity management. We also need to identify more opportunities for linking the assessments undertaken at an operational level with regional and global management initiatives.