In nearly all of the cases below, a service has been scoped out for one of three reasons.

Transcription

1 23A Ecosystem Services Screened Out of the Impact Assessment The pre-screening exercise in Section of the Ecosystem Services chapter screens out a number of ecosystem services based on predicted impacts of minor to no significance. A further explanation of these services and the justification for the ratings applied in the screening exercise are provided in this annex. In nearly all of the cases below, a service has been scoped out for one of three reasons. The function of the ecosystem service is not significantly impacted by the Project because it is a landscape scale service and only a very small portion of the habitat required to provide this service is impacted. Examples of this include impacts to water purification services, pollination services and local air quality regulation. In the case of provisioning services, the service may be of high importance, but it primarily exists or is primarily collected in habitats that are not predicted to be significantly impacted by the footprint or other Project activities. Supporting services are excluded from the impact assessment because they are intermediate ecological outcomes that are captured elsewhere in the provisioning, regulating, and cultural services that they support. For example, changes to primary production are captured in the effects on food resources and non-use services of biodiversity. In a number of cases, a chapter reference within the SEIA has been provided for services that have been screened out of the ecosystem services chapter; in these instances, other chapters of the SEIA are able to provide additional information on the service, including a more detailed analysis of the baseline conditions, Project design measures and magnitude of potential impacts, all of which contribute to the ratings assigned below. Simandou SEIA Volume I Mine Annex 23A 23A-1

2 Table 23A.1 Service Food: Wild Plants Food: wild honey Provisioning Services Description Different parts of vascular plants with food value are used and consumed in various forms: leaf (fresh, dried, cooked, and fermented); fruit (fresh, juice, jam, jelly, wine); seed/kernel (oil, fat, dried, spices); tuber (fresh, dried, cooked); young shoots; buds, etc. Certain fruits eg fruits from Xylopia aethiopica, bitter kola (Garcinia kola) and Piper guineense - are harvested and sold locally and in other markets Wild plant collection serves as a supplementary source of food for households in the study area, particularly during the wet season. Collection of wild plants generally takes place in modified forest habitat near villages and as such there are many spatial alternatives in the area. Honey is collected opportunistically from tree trunks, but there is no organised honey harvesting or trade. Additional information (including The trend of deforestation of forest fragments close to some villages may have reduced access to some of wild plant species. Overall, wild food plants are still abundant in the Project area; many are fast-growing and relatively resilient to change. As a result of the moderate importance and high replaceability of wild plants, the value of the service is rated low for the mine area. According to the Pic de Fon Management Plan, there are signs of honey harvesting by means of fire and cutting down trees (bee hunting), methods that are not sustainable on a larger scale and can be the cause of wildfires. However, opportunistic honey collection is considered sustainable (1). Hives are relatively difficult to move but moderately abundant. Overall, the value of wild honey is assessed as low for communities in the mine area. Preliminary Screening Most plant collection takes place outside the Pic de Fon CF and therefore will not be impacted by land acquisition by the Project. Targeted plant species are abundant in the local area, meaning that replaceability and resilience are high. Direct impacts are therefore predicted to be not significant minor. The magnitude of indirect impacts from inmigration and settlement expansion will likely be larger than the magnitude of direct impacts. However, given the secondary importance of the service and abundance of the resource in the immediate area, the significance of impacts is estimated to be minor. As a precautionary measure, plant collection will be addressed along with other natural resource use issues in the inmigration management plan. Honey collection is an opportunistic practice and is not restricted to any particular areas of forest. Land occupation by the mine is expected to have no significant impacts on bee hives in the study area or restrict access to honey resources. Nevertheless, more information on honey collection at the village level will be collected through the on-going PARC surveys to ensure that any impacts are compensated for. In-migration may lead to increased demand and harvesting of honey. Given the low value of the resource (low importance and moderate replaceability) the significance of potential indirect impacts is assessed as minor. (1) Centre Forestier N Zérékoré, Republic of Guinea (2010). Pic de Fon Classified Forest Development and Management Plan A-2

3 Service Description Additional information (including Natural oils Food: aquaculture Ornamental and currency resource Palm-oil is extracted for both a range of household uses and for sale in local markets. The gathering of palm oil nuts is also the most important use of wild plants for local communities; wild nuts are preferred to plantations (1). Oil palm products are therefore considered of high importance to local communities. There is a higher concentration of natural palm groves on the western and southeast slopes of the Pic de Fon Classified forest. Plantations have a particular legal status, since they are registered as individually owned lands. In the Pic de Fon Classified Forest there are 21 natural palm groves near the villages of Traoréla, Mamorodou, Lamadou and Banko. Palm oil and palm kernel oil are extracted from 17 groves each year. The total area of the groves is ha. No new tree plantations are permitted in the Pic de Fon Classified Forest under the PdF Management plan. Aquaculture is relatively minimal in the mine area but is believed to be practised in a few bas fonds. Fish harvests are destined for sale and consumption. It does not appear to be an important income source in the mine area and is a supplement to freshwater fishing (already a supplemental food source). Within the agro-forestry plantations (primarily natural and semi-natural palm groves), many people cultivate kola nuts interspersed with coffee trees. This crop is important socially as well as economically because the kola nut has been the traditional currency of exchange in local societies. No existing threats are known of for natural groves or palm plantations in the study area. Palms are abundant and fast-growing. Replaceability is therefore considered to be high on average in the mine area. Further stakeholder consultation is needed to determine importance and replaceability at the village level. This will be undertaken through the on-going PARC process and through design of Social Management Plans. Status and threats not known at this time. Aquaculture would be sensitive to land occupation and settlement expansion. No known threats to agroforestry plantations or kola nuts. ; plantations land (bas fonds) ; plantations Preliminary Screening Natural palm groves and plantations are widely scattered and represent only 1.5% of land in the mine study area. Direct impacts from land occupation are therefore expected to be minimal. Agroforestry plantations are more likely to grow as a result of in-migration than to shrink, potentially with negative implications for biodiversity and other ecosystem services. In summary, impacts from mine activities on oil palm products expected to be not significant. With the implementation of extension projects under the Agriculture and Food Security Programme, there is the potential for a positive impact on palm oil production in the mine area. This is assessed in more detail in Chapter 19: Land Use and Land Based Livelihoods. As part of Project design, the Project will avoid impacting bas fonds through land occupation wherever possible. Given the low occurrence of fish farming in the mine area, impacts by the Project are predicted to be not significant. The mine footprint is not expected to impact any palm groves or plantations. Secondary impacts from in-migration are also expected to have a negligible impact on kola nut availability. As an important land use, agroforestry plantations will likely be protected from settlement expansion. Overall, impacts are predicted to be not significant. (1) Diallo, S. (2010). Rapport Recherche SocioEconomique des Douze Terroirs Autour du Pic de Fon. Rio Tinto Simandou Communities Team Unpublished Report. 23A-3

4 Table 18A.2 Service Climate regulation: global Climate regulation: regional and local Water purification and waste treatment Description Regulating Services Forests capture and store carbon dioxide. Benefits accrue globally. The Simandou ridge is aligned in a north-south direction and therefore acts as a barrier to winds with a significant westerly or easterly component. The height and shape of the ridge are also factors in the microclimates experienced at individual locations on its slopes. The ridge may induce local wind circulations and influence rainfall and fog formation in the local area. Water purification is an ecosystem service provided by vegetation communities (primarily grass species on the upper and lower slopes) and soils in the Study Area. Vegetation plays a role in the filtration and decomposition of organic wastes and pollutants and the assimilation and detoxification of compounds. Insufficient data are available to assess the importance of underlying subsoil structures, rock bodies and aquifers in water purification. Additional information (including Landscape scale service. Landscape scale service. Vegetation in the wider area also contributes to local climate regulation. However, the specific role played by the Simandou ridge is not replaceable through other natural formations. Landscape scale ecosystem service. Groundwater supplies in the area are large and in good condition and similar vegetative habitat is common in the area. ; ridge formation ; forests; riparian habitats Preliminary Screening Justification The amount of forest and other vegetation converted as a result of land occupation by the mine is relatively small in terms of CO 2 sequestration However, the Rio Tinto GHG Guidelines require CO 2 emissions from land use change to be included within land clearance activities as a Scope 1 emissions source. As a result, these impacts are accounted for in Chapter 10: Greenhouse Gas Assessment. Modelling results for mesoclimate impacts due to the Project are presented in Chapter 9: Local Climate. When considering rainfall over an area of 10 km by 20 km (roughly 5 km either side of the ridge where mining will take place) the modelling shows that rainfall amounts will be decreased by about 1% for short term events. As a result of lowering the ridge height at certain points, some changes in fog formation are predicted. It is unlikely that these changes to the incidence of fog will have any consequences for local climate or will be noticeable. Impacts are rated not significant. As a landscape scale ecosystem service, impacts to vegetation due to land clearing by the Project are not expected to have a significant impact on the functioning of this service over the length of a given catchment. This service only includes the purification function played by vegetation. Impacts on erosion and water quality from the Project are assessed separately under provision of surface water and erosion regulation in the main text. 23A-4

5 Service Description Additional information (including Air quality regulation Growing forests capture and store carbon dioxide. Bushfires emit smoke, particulates, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds that impact air quality (including ground-level ozone). Vegetation acts as a natural barrier or filter for dust winds. Landscape scale ecosystem service. Local air quality is good and forest vegetation is plentiful relative to the scale of the potentially impacted area. ; Preliminary Screening Justification Due to the relative abundance of forest and woodland habitat and low incidence of emissions in the mine area, land clearing for construction and operation of the mine is not expected to have a significant impact on the functioning of this service in the study area. Pest Regulation Pollination services Air quality is important to beneficiaries, but the portion of quality regulation provided by the potentially impacted area is relatively small. Predators from Pic de Fon forests such as birds, bats, snakes and other animals may control pest and plagues attacking crop and livestock. An example is the plagues of caterpillars which have recently emerged from the larger forest blocks south and west towards Liberia and Sierra Leone. Birds, insects (and possibly small mammals as bat species) pollinate some flora species, including some crops. The Pic de Fon CF probably plays some role in providing pollinators to the surrounding area and the cultivated crops nearby. Landscape scale service. Landscape scale service. ; ; The spatial scale of the project is small enough and there is sufficient occurrence of similar vegetation within the region to support pest control species at current levels of the service (this will vary depending upon the predator species in question). Overall impacts are predicted to be not significant - minor. The spatial scale of the project is small enough and there is sufficient occurrence of similar vegetation within the region to support local pollinators at current levels of the service. Overall impacts are predicted to be not significant - minor. 23A-5

6 Table 18A.3 Supporting Services in the Mine Area Service Description Additional information (including Soil formation Primary Production Nutrient Cycling Landscape disturbance regime Soil formation is fundamental to the existence of ecological communities. At the project site, soil formation is as important as at any other terrestrial site. There are no particular characteristics of the project site which make soil formation unusually important as an ecosystem service. The vegetation communities at the project site all perform primary production. The importance of primary production is intrinsic to the ecological communities listed elsewhere in this assessment, but holds no specific significance to this project. Approximately 20 nutrients essential for life, including nitrogen and phosphorus, cycle through ecosystems and are maintained at different concentrations in different parts of ecosystems. The importance of nutrient cycling is intrinsic to the ecological communities listed elsewhere in this assessment, but holds no specific significance within the Project area. Natural vegetation patterns on the landscape generate characteristic frequency and intensity of biophysical disturbance that support numerous ecosystem outcomes. For example, changes in land use patterns due to land clearing may increase the frequency and intensity of fires. ; land; surface water ; land; surface water ; land; surface water ; Preliminary Screening Justification Supporting services are not included in the impact assessment because they are intermediate ecological outcomes that are captured elsewhere in the provisioning, regulating, and cultural services that they support. For example, changes to primary production are captured in the effects on food resources and non-use services of biodiversity. Changes in landscape disturbance are captured in natural hazard regulation and impacts to biodiversity. 23A-6