Integrating Biodiversity Conservation into Oil and Gas ... - EBI

1. ENERGY AND BIODIVERSITY
Increasingly, many areas that are potentially valuable
sources for oil and gas development are also being
recognized and valued for their biodiversity. This
section discusses the very real challenges that this
juxtaposition represents to society, the energy industry
and conservation organizations.
1.1 BIODIVERSITY AND THE CHALLENGE
TO SOCIETY
Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is the variability
among living organisms and the ecological complexes of
which they are part, including diversity within species,
between species and of ecosystems. Biodiversity provides
a vast array of benefits to human society, including food
and medicines, natural resources and ecological services
such as pest control, water purification and climate
regulation (see Box 2). Healthy ecosystems help maintain
a sufficient and diverse gene pool for both wild and
domesticated species and allow species to more easily
cope with climatic variations. In addition, biodiversity
can provide people with spiritual, cultural and aesthetic
benefits. Some forms of biodiversity loss, such as species
extinction, are irreversible. Although many ecosystems
BOX 2. BIODIVERSITY AND HUMAN WELFARE
Biodiversity is fundamental to human welfare and economic development and plays a critical role in meeting human
needs by maintaining the ecological processes upon which our survival depends. Broad-scale ecological systems provide
services such as clean air and fresh water, benefits needed by everyone, whether in urban or rural settings.
Biodiversity includes the full range of living organisms that people depend on, for both direct and indirect uses. Direct
benefits from biodiversity come from the supply of goods or products – such as food, timber, clothing materials and
medicine – that can be consumed or traded in exchange for other required or desired assets. Although all people
depend on biodiversity to some extent, the poorest, especially the rural poor, most directly depend on the products of
healthy ecosystems, harvesting wild plants and animals for their food, fuel, clothing, medicine and shelter. Conserving
biodiversity is therefore part of protecting the critical ecosystems that are essential for both environmental and
economic sustainability.
Biodiversity also provides less tangible, indirect benefits that cannot be traded, but underpin the natural and production
systems central to human survival. Watershed protection, carbon storage, pollination and nutrient recycling are all
necessary environmental services. Genetic diversity and its associated information are used to create new crops or
animal varieties and pharmaceuticals; modern agriculture, which depends on new genetic stock from natural ecological
systems, is now a US$3 trillion global business. Biodiversity allows adaptation to take place through natural and artificial
selection.
There are many benefits of biodiversity that do not rely on use. Biodiversity is closely linked with human cultural
and spiritual values, non-use benefits that are nonetheless powerful forces in many traditional cultures as well as in
urbanized lives. For example, unique species and special landscapes provide aesthetic benefits that are important sources
of revenue through economic activities such as tourism. Tourism based on an intact natural environment is rapidly
becoming one of the leading sources of foreign exchange earnings in countries with high biodiversity.
Finally, other non-use benefits of biodiversity, such as the capacity to adapt to future changes, risks and uncertainties,
cannot be captured by individuals, but are “owned” by society at local, regional and global levels.
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Integrating Biodiversity Conservation into Oil and Gas Development