Cement Sustainability Initiative presents Biodiversity Management Plan Guidance

At the Cement Sustainability Initiative Forum 2014 held in Cartagena this month, Jim Rushworth, Co-Chair of the CSI Task Force 5 on Biodiversity & Land Stewardship, presented the Biodiversity Management Plan (BMP) Guidance. The guidance presents the key issues and six crucial stages in biodiversity management, explains the connection between operations and healthy ecosystems and outlines some management approaches. It is aimed at environmental officers, managers of operations, quarry managers, as well as others who work with quarries and who have a focus on biodiversity, such as academics and NGOs. The BMP Guidance provides practical advice on the implementation of biodiversity into site-level management of quarries through the development of an appropriately focused management plan. It was developed with the aid of Birdlife International, European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD), International Finance Corporation, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Reserva da Biosfera da Mata Atlântica (RMBA), European Aggregates Association (UEPG) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).  The BMP Guidance can be downloaded here.

The theme of this year’s CSI Forum was ‘Conserving nature’s foundations: biodiversity & ecosystems’. Up for discussion was companies efforts to go beyond ‘license to operate’ and minimal requirements and instead integrate biodiversity into all stages of quarry planning and management. Almost 100 participants attended from around the world.

Adapted from press release by Katherine Guenioui

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/26092014/cement-sustainability-initiative-biodiversity-management-plan-guidance-561/