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

are also applicable to other EMS templates, which are
increasingly based upon, or linked to, the ISO standards.
No matter which system it is based on, a company’s EMS
is likely to have been modified in some way, and it is thus
important to adapt these ideas to a specific company
system. Within the overall structure of the EMS, there
may be many ways to achieve the desired outcomes, and
success in integrating biodiversity should be measured
by performance, rather than strict adherence to a
narrowly defined process.
3.1.1 Integrating biodiversity into an
ISO 14001-based EMS
ISO 14001 requirements for an EMS are designed to
allow an organization to formulate a policy and objectives
based on legislative requirements and information about
significant environmental impacts. The system considers
only those environmental aspects that the organization
can control and over which it can be expected to have
an influence. The ISO standards do not state specific
environmental performance criteria.
FIGURE 4:
THE ISO 14001 MANAGEMENT CYCLE
ACT
CHECK
PLAN
DO
The ISO 14001 requirements are comprised of five main
categories for ensuring that environmental issues are
effectively addressed in project and company activities
and operations: Environmental Policy, Planning,
Implementation and Operations, Checking and
Corrective Action, and Management Review. At each
of these stages, it is possible to integrate biodiversity
considerations to more fully address the potential
biodiversity impacts of oil and gas development (see
Table 1 for a summary of the relationship between
EBI products and the ISO 14001 EMS process).
Although these five steps are often represented in
a linear sequence, many of them will be conducted
simultaneously and in an iterative manner. The following
are examples of ways to adapt standard environmental
activities to include biodiversity considerations:
• Environmental Policy: At the project level,
a biodiversity policy statement could fully
acknowledge the potential for impacts, including
secondary impacts, and describe opportunities
to benefit biodiversity. At the company level, as
part of an overall corporate social responsibility
strategy, a company may recognize the central
role of biodiversity conservation in sustainable
development, the benefits of investing in biodiversity
conservation, and the business value of integrating
biodiversity considerations into activities and
decisions (see Box 9).
• Planning: When planning for environmental
management, operators can specifically identify
activities, products or services that might have an
impact on biodiversity, identify relevant national
or international legal or other requirements related
to biodiversity, determine the protected-area
status of the site and identify potential partners
for biodiversity conservation activities. Where
significant impacts are predicted, the operator
should set biodiversity-specific objectives and targets
through stakeholder engagement, and design and
implement a biodiversity management program as
part of a wider environmental management program.
• Implementation and Operations: Companies can
acquire and/or retain biodiversity expertise by
developing internal staff capacity, establishing links
to external organizations and including biodiversity
issues in training and awareness programs (see Box
10). Companies may wish to appoint a biodiversity
“champion” with a clearly defined role and
responsibility relating to corporate biodiversity policy
and strategy. Companies can also engage stakeholders
at an early stage on biodiversity issues and develop
biodiversity-specific requirements for suppliers
and contractors. Development of emergency and
23
Integrating Biodiversity Conservation into Oil and Gas Development