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.
As part of our biodiversity strategy, 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.
For our biodiversity strategy to be successful, we need to have good working relationships with those who are impacted by, or have an interest in, our business decisions. Indigenous land owners, communities, governments, regulators, international, regional and local NGOs, investors, the science and finance communities, and our managers and employees all have interests and concerns to which we must respond, and understand. Engagement helps us better understand issues and priorities, and develop programmes and actions that the parties involved agree will provide value.
By engaging in a number of different ways, including formal partnerships, we have established a collaborative process with leading global and regional conservation NGOs. This process shaped the policy elements of the biodiversity strategy and NPI goal. These relationships have continued to flourish since 2004. They have played a significant role in the refinement of our understanding around NPI and the development of the methodologies and tools we are using in the implementation of the strategy.
An underlining principal of our biodiversity work is to ensure that biodiversity conservation activities are community based. For example in Madagascar, we have negotiated legal agreements with local communities to manage avoidance zones for conservation. Whilst it may never be possible to obtain unanimous support for these programmes, and some sections of the community continue to have objections, we believe that it has the support of the majority of those affected in the local community.
Through our biodiversity partners, we have also funded direct compensation programmes where community members received agreed compensation (funds for water supplies, schools, etc) in return for conserving key features of the environment and other initiatives such as a reduction in logging and hunting.
In mid 2010 Rio Tinto signed a three year relationship agreement with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). A significant work programme of the relationship centres around the design and implementation of a verification and assessment process that will be used post 2011 to assess operational progress towards the NPI goal.
Our biodiversity partners include: BirdLife International, Conservation International, Earthwatch Institute, Fauna & Flora International and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
