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The Oil & Gas Industry
and the Environment
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Module 2: Environmental Issues &
Dynamics |
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What can we do? |
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those sensitive environments in which the oil and gas industry operate, they do so in full recognition of the potential
environmental, economic and social consequences of biodiversity
loss. Operations on land,
in coast areas and the marine environments are designed to
coexist with habitats important to a variety of biological
species. Oil and gas activities are subject to internal as well
as external controls designed to decrease the footprint of
operations and limit the impacts.
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 Ecological Footprint is the land (and water) area that
would be required to support a defined human population
and material standard indefinitely."
(Our Ecological
Footprint, 1995 p.158)
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Biodiversity recap
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International
response |
The origins of modern
attempts to manage global biological diversity can be
traced to the United Nations Conference on Human
Environment held in Stockholm in 1972, which explicitly
identified biodiversity conservation as a priority.
Nearly two decades later, at the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development (the`Earth Summit', Rio de
Janeiro, 1992), Agenda 21 was adopted, and the
Convention on Biological Diversity were opened for
signature.
In Agenda 21,
Chapter 15 outlines activities that are intended to
improve the conservation of biological diversity and the
sustainable use of biological resources.
One year after The Earth
Summit in Rio, in December 1993, the
Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD)
entered into force. This has been the most
significant response to the biodiversity crisis during the
past 30. The convention had been signed by 182
Parties by December 2001.
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The convention has three main goals:
1) the conservation of
biodiversity;
2) sustainable use of the
components of biodiversity; and
3) sharing the benefits
arising from the use of genetic
resources in a fair and
equitable way. |
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Government response |
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The Convention on
Biodiversity (CBD) requires
that biodiversity considerations be mainstreamed into
all aspects of national planning and that each Party
shall integrate consideration of the conservation and
sustainable use of biological resources into national
decision-making.
Development and adoption
of a national biodiversity strategy is the foundation
for implementation of the Convention by Parties.
In many countries
biodiversity strategies are already in place, for
example:
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Australian's Environmental
Protection & Biodiversity Act (1999) which includes
Guidelines on the Application of the Environment
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to
Interactions Between Offshore Seismic Operations and
Larger Cetaceans
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United Kingdom Biodiversity Action Plan
In addition, an
environmental impact assessment process is in place in
many countries, and is often a legal requirement. Such
processes often fail to incorporate biological diversity
considerations in full, but this is changing. For
the oil and gas industry, rehabilitation practices are
becoming increasingly stringent.
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Now that a large number of countries have begun to
implement the Convention, and the period since relevant
measures have been in place is lengthening, it is
increasingly desirable to develop tools to monitor the
actual on-the-ground impacts of compliance. The Parties
have explicitly recognized this need in their several
calls for development of a core set of biodiversity
indicators, and in their efforts to improve and
harmonise national reporting.
(Global
Biodiversity Outlook 2001)
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Industry response |
Many companies now:
- Include biodiversity in
Environmental Impact Assessment reports
- Carry out pre-operation
baseline studies in sensitive environments.
- Have established
operational criteria for habitat and species protection.
- Employ company experts to
provide guidance and advice.
- Support scientific work on
biodiversity mapping and on protection.
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In addition, in the past 10
years, the oil and gas industry has put in place a wide
variety of programmes to:
- protect wildlife;
- rehabilitate and enhance
habitats;
- support environmental
education;
- fund continuous wildlife
and vegetation surveys
- conserve native species.
These projects involve close
cooperation with local, regional and national wildlife
authorities and other key interested parties to ensure proper
planning and execution of environmental protection measures.
In addition to such consultation, they also benefit from other
best practices in every phase of the operation. These include
environmental protection guidelines, environmental and social
impact assessment; prevention, mitigation and control;
monitoring; decommissioning; contribution to science and
technology cooperation and capacity building.
[Source:
The Oil
and Gas Industry,
 IPIECA / OGP, 2002]
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