Biodiversity
"Biodiversity" is a complex term, which means different things to different people. To us, biodiversity refers to the variety of life on earth - the different animals, plants and micro-organisms, their genes and the ecosystems of which they are a part.
Impacts on biodiversity make mining and processing projects potentially sensitive for regulators, local communities, investors, non government organisations (NGOs) and employees. Our long term business success depends on our ability to understand and manage these issues. In response to these viewpoints we developed and launched our biodiversity strategy in 2004. The strategy was revised and re-released in 2008 to communicate our developed understanding of biodiversity as an issue for the Rio Tinto group.
Our goal is to have a "net positive impact" (NPI) on biodiversity. This means minimising the impacts of our business and contributing to biodiversity conservation to ensure a region ultimately benefits from our presence. To achieve NPI, we first seek to understand the biodiversity elements of the regions where we operate, as well as the "values" placed upon those elements. We then prioritise our actions, focusing on the biodiversity elements that have the highest conservation significance.
The biodiversity issues for each of our projects or operations can vary greatly, as do the opportunities for minimising negative impacts and creating positive outcomes. Our biodiversity strategy supports our projects and operations in their goal of achieving NPI. The key elements of the strategy include our position statement and guiding principles on biodiversity.
- Approach
- Engagement
- Results
Since launching our biodiversity strategy in 2004, we have undergone a continuous learning process - both in defining and understanding the principles and concepts of responsible conservation management, and in developing, testing and refining the tools and processes that we need to do so.
Assessing our interaction with biodiversity and the size of our biodiversity footprint is an important first step in implementing our strategy and progressing towards achieving our goal of NPI.
In addition, we have developed a number of methodologies and tools to help our operations identify, plan for and manage biodiversity programmes. These tools are based on the needs of the individual business and the biodiversity values of the regions in which they operate. They include:
- A Groupwide biodiversity values assessment protocol
This assesses the biodiversity values of our land holdings and surrounding areas to help prioritise action. - A biodiversity action planning tool
This helps operations understand and plan for the biodiversity features of the areas in which they operate and the values placed on those features. - An offset design methodology
Following a number of internal pilots and external consultation, we have developed an offset design methodology to help businesses plan and implement offset programmes.
We monitor our performance by evaluating data collected in Rio Tinto's annual social and environmental survey. The survey is used to evaluate performance across the Group on a range of environmental, community, health and safety issues.
Proposed emissions trading legislation in Australia
- The current Australian Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) legislation disproportionately impacts the coal, aluminium and alumina industries and threatens the viability of low emissions technology development.
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Environmental publications
Water strategy sets the standards
- Ethical Corporation, an independent firm that encourages debate and discussion on responsible business practices, has recognised Rio Tinto's water strategy as providing a model for other businesses.
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Video
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